New Beginnings
by Amixed
Summary: A Naruto Highschool Fanfic. Basically Sakura is a new student, a horrible home life and amazing friends which she meets at her new high school. Pairings GaaSaku TemShik NaruHin NejTen and well a little bit of everything. Rated M for safety. Enjoy!
1. Friends

**A Gaara and Sakura Fanfic, I hope you like it.**

_Thoughts_

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Nor do I own the Tripp clothing brand.**

**New Beginnings**

**Chapter 1: Friends**

She emerged from the bathroom wearing a white skinny strapped tank top which hugged her curves to compliment them, she had on a Tripp black, white and blue plaid mini skirt which had random buckles and zippers sewn all over it. She wore extra high top converse which were completely black with white shoe laces, she simply ran a brush through her pink hair which went to her shoulders, and swiped her black hoodie from her bead to put on. She grabbed her Black denim messenger bag and ran out through the front door without grabbing breakfast. She sprinted down seven blocks before stopping to intake the oxygen which she forgot to breath on the last two blocks. Looking at her watch she saw that she was fifteen minutes late for class _Hah! 20 minutes earlier than I was at my last school. I'm getting good at this _She smiled and took a normal pace towards the school front doors. As she was walking she noticed another figure also walking towards the doors from the opposite side _Looks like I'm not the only one who's late. He's pretty good looking; maybe this school won't be completely horrible. _She reached the school door to notice he was right behind her and would be coming through the same door as well so she decided she would be nice and hold the door open for him, but when he walked in he walked past her as she was just another part of the door. _Jackass _she thought to herself continuing down the hall, she paused for a moment retrieving her schedule from her butt pocket _so first period, L.A., Kakashi Hatake, RM#408 _she looked up at the classroom numbers to realize that she was standing in front of 408 _Oh, cool! _She opened the door to see a man with a mask on and grey hair which had a slight tilt to it sitting on his desk reading a book. Kakashi looked up lazily to only look back down.

"Haruno Sakura I take it?"

"Yes"

"You're later than me. Not the best thing to do on your first day." Sakura smiled innocently and muttered an apology but Kakashi paid no attention to this for he was already pulling her in front of the class. He looked at her as if waiting for something.

"Well, go ahead, introduce yourself." Sakura smiled and looked at the class nervously before starting.

"I'm Sakura; I just came here from across town." Sakura looked at the emotionless class when her eyes fell on a boy in the back of the class room with brilliant red hair and a tattoo of the Japanese symbol for love on his forehead _Oh great, it's the jerk that I saw at the school doors. _After Sakura had finished her introduction Kakashi motioned her to an empty seat in front of the boy with red hair. Sakura sighed and slowly walked over, taking her seat. After about five minutes of sitting in class while random kids talked and as the teacher sat reading his book as he pretended it wasn't happening, Sakura got a tap on her right shoulder. Sakura looked to her right to see a girl with blonde hair which was set up in four spiky buns, black baggy cargo pants, combat boots, a tight dark purple tank top with fish net gloves that went up past her elbows and about 15 silver rings on her fingers smiling at her. "Hey, I'm Temari"

"Hey"

"So, is your natural hair color actually pink?" At this Sakura hesitated answering her. At her last school that was all Sakura got teased for, well that, and how she dressed. But knowing they would find out sooner or later she let out a shy "yes". She looked down at the ground knowing it would only seclude her from ever getting a chance to have friends. That was only until she heard Temari say something Sakura had never heard before.

"Wow, really? That's awesome! Sakura looked up surprised to see a smiling Temari, as Sakura returned her smile.

"Thanks" Temari nodded.

"Hey so since you're new I can show you around and stuff, my friends will probably be cool with you, what do ya say?" Sakura jumped at the opportunity.

"Yeah, that'd be great!" For the rest of the class Temari and Sakura just talked about random stuff, like where Sakura was from, who Temari was and that she had two brothers who she also hung out with, their names which were Kankuro and Gaara, Gaara who so happened to be the jerk in which she already didn't like and when introduced he just let out a "Hn" without taking his eyes off the book he was reading.

Later that day at lunch (yes, it's lunch, the other classes don't matter right now) Temari lead Sakura through the school towards a back door which then lead to some bushes, at this Sakura gave Temari a worried look who only responded by giggling and continuing on. Once they came to the bushed Sakura noticed a small path through them which lead to a clearing. In the clearing Sakura noticed other people there which she thought _they must be Temari's group. _

"Alright everyone, we have a new girl here, her name is Sakura so get off your asses and introduce yourselves!" At this an energetic boy with bright blue eyes and blonde messy hair sprung up off the grass and ran to Sakura. He was wearing black pants with a black shirt which had an orange fox on the front and black shoes.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you!" Sakura laughed as Temari rolled her eyes.

The next one to introduce them self was a messy brown haired boy with red tattooed streaks down his cheeks. He wore a big grey sweatshirt with baggy black cargo shorts and black skater shoes. "I'm Kiba! And this little guy in my sweatshirt is Akamaru!" Akamaru gave a little bark.

"Hi, I'm Tenten!" Said a girl with brown hair with it set in two buns with her bangs swayed on her face. She had on dark green baggy capris with a tight black t-shirt and worn out low top converse on. "And this is Hinata" She said pointing to a timid looking girl who had dark blue short hair with bangs that shaped her face. She wore a big brown sweatshirt unzipped with a white tank top underneath and black shorts with ended just above her knees and black high top converses. When she look up at Sakura, she had light blue eyes which almost resembled white with no pupil. Sakura smiled as Hinata let out a shy "hi".

"I'm Neji." Said a boy with a stern voice. He had long brown hair which was tied in a loose pony tail. He wore a simple dark blue t-shirt with black jeans and black shoes. Sakura also noticed his eyes; they were just like Hinata's which made her wonder if they were related.

"What's up, I'm Kankuro" A boy with messy shortish brown hair and purple paint on his face emerged slinging his arm about her while smirking. He was wearing a black t-shirt and black pants with black and purple skater shoes.

"She's been here what, five minutes and your already hitting on her?" Temari said glaring at Kankuro.

"Hey, she's been here for at least six." At this Temari gave him a sharp blow to his shoulder.

"You'll have to excuse my brother; he's a bit of an ass sometimes." Kankuro walked away rubbing his shoulder as he cursed his sister under his breath and as Sakura silently giggled. "Now" Temari said walking over to a boy with brown hair which was set up in a spiky pony tail. He wore simple grey shorts with a white t-shirt and black skater shoes. He had a cigarette in his right hand while he looked up at the sky. "This lazy ass is Shikamaru, and when I say lazy I mean it."

"Hmp, it's too troublesome not to be." But after he spoke he waved to Sakura showing that he acknowledged her. Temari rolled her eyes and walked back over to Sakura. "And as you know that's Gaara my little brother" She motioned over to an emotionless red haired boy with sky blue eyes with a tint of green which had dark black circles around them. He wore a black hoodie left unzipped with a red shirt underneath, black baggy pants and black converse. Sakura smiled his way but yet again only got a short "Hn" in return. _Jerk. Stupid Jerk. Stupid good looking jerk. _Temari grabbed Sakura's arm and walked over to sit down with the group of friends. Once seated on the grass, Hinata spoke up.

"S-so what school did you come from before Konaha?"

"Whitsfield" Kiba laughed.

"Isn't that that preppy snob bitch school?"

Sakura smiling "Yep, that's the one." Kiba looked confused but Tenten spoke up.

"How'd you end of here?"

"I got in trouble for fighting one too many times." At this Gaara looked up from his book, but only for a second. "This school was only two hours away so we moved here. Naruto smiled and spoke.

"Hah! That's funny, most of us fight too, but only when the preppy bastards get of hand." Temari chimed in cheerfully.

"Mostly it's just Ino and Sasuke. Ino is basically a Barbie doll bitch and Sasuke, well Sasuke is an idiotic pretty boy perv who doesn't know the meaning of the word no."

"You speak like you have experience dealing with him." At this Shikamaru was sitting strait up glaring strait forward.

"Yeah, I do, basically he won't stop hitting on me. Same goes for Hinata and Tenten and now that you're here probably you. But as a group we watch out for each other so don't worry." She said smiling.

"Yeah! We we'll watch out for you!" Naruto said enthusiastically. "You are after all our friend now." At these words Sakura could feel her heart lift, she had never really heard someone refer to her as that, she savored the moment. _Friends. _Temari's words broke her thought.

"So on Friday everyone's coming over to mine, Gaara's and Kankoru's house, are you interested?" Sakura smiled.

"Yeah! But how will I get there? My car's well, my car is sort of dead from my bad driving" Sakura said as she smiled innocently.

"Well, I can give you directions and you can just ask your parents to drive you." At this Sakura's heart dropped, the feeling of coldness gripped at her, slowly mocking her. Gaara who until could care less of what was going on noticed her sudden change, though no one else noticed for it was of mere seconds that it happened. Sakura lit of with a smile once more.

"Oh, they work too much; I'll just learn the bus routes."

"Hah! Don't be stupid, you can just ride in my car with Kankuro, Gaara and me." Sakura suddenly felt her spirits being lifted.

"Thanks! So what exactly do you do over at your house?"

"We normally listen to music, play video games-"

"Which I totally OWN at by the way!" Kiba yelled. Temari ignoring his statement continued on.

"-Play games, watch movies, eat crap, anything really. Oh and by the way all the girls are invited to spend the night for a sleep over as of now to welcome Sakura. The guys, including my brothers with sleep over at Naruto's, Kiba's, Shikamaru's or Neji's house. The four girls giggled at this.

"Hey! Who are you to be telling me to get of my own house?!" Kankuro yelled, but then turning into a quick smirked walked over to Sakura. "Besides, I want to welcome Sakura too." This time, Sakura shot him a punch to his arm. At this everyone burst into laughter as he doubled over in pain, even Gaara let out a smirk. And finally Sakura finally felt like she belonged somewhere.

**So, what do you think as my first chapter? Please R&R? If not, okay…**

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	2. A Shell

_Thoughts_

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 2: A Shell**

It was Thursday afternoon during fifth period when four girls were chatting quietly in the back of a classroom. "Ahem, girls, if you don't stop talking I'll have to separate you." Temari smiled waving both her hands at her teacher.

"Heh heh, no need to do that Kurenai, we'll be quiet!" Kurenai gave one last disapproving look at Temari before returning to the board. "Hah, that was close" she whispered as the other three girls laughed a long. Sakura turned to Temari.

"So, what were you saying about Halloween?"

"Well, as you know Halloween is only a few weeks away and well every Halloween we throw a huge bash at my house because my parents are always away on business. When we first started the tradition it was just our group of friends but over the years the whole school has taken the liberty to use it as their party so it gets pretty crazy. It's just a bunch of music, drunken high school kids and of course, costumes!" At this before Hinata could stop herself she said rather loudly.

"Naruto was a fox last year!" As soon as she heard the words escape she quickly slapped her hands to her mouth, turning into a deep crimson red. Sakura, Temari and Tenten all stared at her and then exchanged looks before bursting out into laughter but it was stopped shortly after by glares they received from Kurenai. After the girls calmed down and Hinata's face lightened to a soft shade of pink, Temari continued on.

"So, now that we all know Naruto was a fox last year I can continue on" Hinata whose light shade of pink burst into crimson red once again quickly laid her head on the table letting the three girls continue their talking while she calmed down. The three girls giggled. "It is of course on Halloween night. As tradition about a week before the party we go shopping for our costumes together."

"This is great! Normally I just spend Halloween in my room reading scary stories." After Sakura had said this she looked up to see all three girls gaping at her. "What?"

Tenten was the first that was able to speak up. "Don't tell me that's true…not even trick or treating when you were young?"

"Oh, well I did go once, but I only went out 20 minutes before returning." Sakura looked at them and couldn't help but laugh at how seriously they were taking this. "…Well guys, it's just when you don't have anyone to go with nor do something with the whole thing sort of loses its appeal" The three girls stared at Sakura with sad eyes, but Hinata spoke up.

"That's horrible! Well, we will just make this the best Halloween you've ever had! Won't we?" Hinata was now looking determinedly over at Tenten and Temari.

"Yeah!" They said together loudly. Apparently they had said it too loud because for the remainder of the class the girls spent it on four separate corners of the classroom all glaring at Kurenai as she smiled to herself while writing on the board.

At the end of the class the four girls waited for each other before making their way to the exit. As Sakura was heading out the door she saw Gaara walking down the hallway in his normal composure. "Hey Temari"

"Yeah?"

"Does your brother always act like that?" Temari walked up beside Sakura to see Gaara going down the hallway.

"Oh, you mean a complete anti-social, natural glare, hates everyone kind of thing?" Sakura nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. But, he's always acted that way, you'll get used to it."

"Oh, okay"

"But hey, don't get me wrong. He can be a jerk yes, but he's a good friend, and in time you'll get to see how." On that note Temari turned to walk down the hallway towards her class while Sakura took the opposite way to her sixth period which was gym. _I wonder what she meant by that? _Sakura shrugged it off as she entered the gym doors. She walked into the locker rooms to change into her uniform which consisted of black shorts and a white shirt. When she walked into the gym she noticed that there wasn't anyone there, she looked around confused and decided to check outside to see if they had decided to go out there. When she got outside she saw her gym teacher Gai walking away from the gym. She quickly ran to catch up to him.

"Um, Gai, where is everyone?"

"Ah, Sakura! Yes, I guess I forgot to mention, every Thursday we join together gym class A and gym class B, just so the teachers can compare their teaching techniques and share in the knowledge!"

"Oh, so is that where you are going?"

"Sure is! I'll talk to Anko for you so you won't be counted as late, but from now on you know to go with the other gym class instead of the gym." Sakura nodded her head and followed Gai until they reached a football field where about sixty students were lined up on the grass in different rows. Once Gai had told her where to stand in line she quickly ran and mimicked what the others were doing and just stood there looking forward. She noticed after a while that the teacher named Anko was taking attendance and that they were all lined up in alphabetical order. Sakura realized she would be coming up soon seeing as Anko was already up in the R's. A few moments after her thought ended she heard her name.

"Sakura Haruno?"

"Here"

"Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Yeah" When Sakura had heard his name being called she remembered what Temari had said about him earlier that week. She looked over at him only to see him looking at her with a smirk and a gleam of want in his eyes. Sakura's eyes widened but sent him a glare and continued to look strait. _I have a feeling Temari wasn't kidding_

After Anko had finished calling out the names she instructed them to spread out and stretch to get ready for running around the field. Sakura waited a few moments until she saw an empty spot where she could stretch by the side of the field. First she put her arms over head stretching each arm for ten seconds, and then she moved to her legs, she pulled each leg individually up to her chest while balancing on the other, again, each for ten seconds. Then, with both feet on the ground she separated them a tad and bent down to touch her toes. _…5 6 7 8-What the fuck?!_ Sakura's eyes widened for at that moment she felt a hand caress her backside. She shot up and went to turn to take a look at who had touched her but before she could even see who it was she heard a loud smack and a thump. When she looked around she saw Sasuke on the ground holding his gut, while Naruto burst into ecstatic laughter, but what surprised her most was Gaara standing over Sasuke with his fist outstretched from his body, still maintaining his usual look in his eyes and face.

"Gaara?" Gaara just looked her way with out saying anything. Naruto how ever once his laughter ceased started shouting enthusiastically.

"Ha-Ha! Yeah, don't mess with our friend! Nice one Gaara! Hey Sakura, you alright?" Sakura smiled and nodded.

"Uh, thanks…Gaara. _This must be what Temari was talking about, wow. _Gaara who seemed bored just let out an "Hn" and started to walk away. Naruto motioned for Sakura to come with them.

"So Sakura, I didn't see you in the beginning of class, when you'd come in?"

"Oh, I was la-"But at that moment they heard screaming from behind.

"Yeah she may be your friend now but she'll be screaming my name later!" Sakura, Naruto and Gaara all froze in their tracks. This time it was Sakura's turn to have fun. Before anyone knew what was happening Sakura was running towards Sasuke with a balled fist. She swung at his face but he quickly dodged it, smirking. But that wasn't her plan. Right after she swung her fist she lifted her knee slamming it into his gut, wiping the smirk off his face. After he fell to the ground Naruto came jumping up beside Sakura smiling cheerfully.

"Hah! Alright Sakura! Take that ass-hole! Gaara appeared by Sakura smirking at the fallen Sasuke. _What?! An emotion, yeah, finally! _Sasuke was sprawled out on the ground screaming.

"Agh, you bitch! I will get you for this!" Sakura just laughed. Suddenly a squeaky voice came out from the newly formed crowd which was watching the fight.

"Sasuke! My poor Sasuke! The person belonging to the voice was a blonde haired girl who had a high pony tail and side swept bangs. _And this must be Ino, fun._ "How dare you, you filthy bitch! You're not even worthy to lay a hand on him!" Ino screamed while she lay over his body.

"Man, get off me woman!" Sasuke was now pushing himself up from the ground glaring at Gaara. "This is not over" He walked away with Ino swaying on his arm, Naruto spoke up.

"Well, this was the best P.E. class I've had all year, yep!" Gaara just looked at Naruto and then started to walk away, Sakura rolled her eyes while laughing and continued after Gaara, Naruto just smiled and walked with them.

"So Sakura, where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Why, want some fighting tips Naruto?" Sakura sang sarcastically.

"Hah, no you're just good is all."

"Oh, well thanks, but it just built up over the years, I sort of learned to fend myself." When Sakura said this she shifted her eyes towards the ground feeling the same coldness gripping at her, trying to take her as she constantly fought. She looked back up from her mental battle to see Gaara staring at her from the corner of his eye but quickly looked away. _What?_

"That's cool" Naruto cheered and Sakura gave him a smile.

After gym class Sakura made her way back to the locker rooms to shower and get dressed. She removed her gym clothes and found an available shower. She turned the water on, letting it hit her head slowly leaning in further to let it go against her face with her eyes closed. She stood like that for a few minutes thinking back on her day making herself smile. Realizing it was the end of the day she quickly washed her hair and rinsed off. She grabbed her clothes and dried off, as she got dressed. She was wearing a burgundy red long sleeve shirt which clung to her body, black cargo pants, black converse and 20 bracelets going up each arm. She quickly towel dried her hair and ran a brush through it, grabbing her bag she went to ran through the locker room doors. Before she got completely out of the room she was shoved back in. "What the-"

"Shut up!" Sakura caught her balance to see Ino standing, glaring at Sakura. "You hurt Sasuke. You, a pathetic freak who found her home with the other freaks." Ino started walking towards Sakura, a smirk forming on her lips. "What? You aren't going to show me how tough you are? Not gonna try and beat me?" Sakura smirked and started towards Ino, whose smirk faded, taking a step back.

"No" Ino looked at her and smiled in a way that would say "I knew it". That was until Sakura spoke again. "But my friends will" Ino turned on the spot to receive a sharp blow to her left cheek and fell revealing a smiling Temari.

"Naruto told us what happened so we figured she'd come after you. You did after all hurt her precious Sasuke. Nice one by the way!" Tenten stepped out from behind Temari.

"Oh, man Temari, nice one! That's going to leave a mark." She said hi-fiving Temari who laughed at the pissed Ino on the floor. Hinata spoke up quietly.

"Um, we should probably get out of here you guys." Temari sighed.

"Yeah, I know. Come on Sakura I'll give you a ride home."

"Cool." Sakura said cheerfully stepping over Ino who just groaned and cursed after them. They walked the halls cheerfully; the happiest one of all was Sakura who was lost in thought. _Wow, I had friends come and defend me. Never in my life has that happened…man _Sakura sighed. She of course was referring to the countless times in elementary and middle school when she would get cornered by the school bullies who would beat her to a pulp while everyone just watched. But she grew stronger and was able to use those times as motivation to be who she was today.

"So Sakura, you've officially gotten your self on both Ino and Sasuke's hit list. Not to mention their cronies." Tenten said smiling at Sakura. "Good job"

"Aaw, we're so proud of you!" Chimed in Temari, pinching Sakura's Cheeks. Sakura replied sarcastically.

"Ha-ha, very nice" They all laughed as Hinata spoke up.

"I'm glad you're okay Sakura." Sakura looked up and couldn't help but smile at Hinata who looked worried for Sakura.

"Thanks Hinata" They had reached outside the school and were standing by the flagpole.

"Hinata! Time to go." The four girls turned around to see Neji standing waiting for Hinata. Hinata gave a small wave good bye and ran to catch up with Neji who waved to the group of girls, looking at the three while taking his time to look at Tenten who blushed as she waved. Tenten gave a deep sigh.

"Doesn't he take such good care of Hinata? It's just so sweet!" The other two girls agreed. Sakura had found out the day before that they were cousin and that Neji treated Hinata as his own little sister. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow!" She said waving as she went to her car.

"We should probably get going as well. Gaara and Kankuro get cranky when I make them wait too long, and then I have to deal with their shit the rest of the day"

"Okay" They both walked towards the car to see Kankuro sprawled out on top of the car being dramatic as Gaara stood beside the car with his arms crossed glaring forward.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late, we ran into Ino." Kankuro slid off the car as Gaara grabbed the keys from Temari to unlock the door and threw them back to her. "Hey Kankuro! Get your ass out of the front seat! We're giving Sakura a ride home." When he didn't move, Temari started to fume, Sakura who saw this was going to be a problem spoke up.

"It's okay Temari, I don't mind." She smiled and slid into the back seat with Gaara. She smiled towards him but didn't expect anything back as she had gotten used to him, but she would always know that he cared for his friends. Just the fact that he had accepted Sakura as one of his friends made her happy, in a slightly strange way. The car ride was mostly quiet, well; not really, it was more like Kankuro giving cat calls to the rich old ladies who were walking on the side walk who in return glared at him as if he were the scum of the earth which he thoroughly enjoyed. It was only a five minute car drive but Sakura enjoyed every second of it. Once they pulled near Sakura's house Temari told her to stop. "Thanks for the ride, I'll see you tomorrow!" She stepped out of the car grabbing her back pack.

"Alright, see ya, and don't forget extra clothes for the sleep over tomorrow!" Temari yelled out of her car as she drove away while Kankuro gave one last call out of the car. Sakura turned to walk up the path towards her house. She went to open the door but before twisting the knob she took in a deep breath releasing it when she got in. She quietly slid her shoes off trying not to make any noise. She slowly crept up the stairs trying to get to her room. Sakura was on the last stair when she heard her name being called from behind her.

"Sakura, don't you want to say hello to your dear mother?" Sakura looked back at her mother staring strait forward.

"Hi Mother" Sakura said through gritted teeth.

"Who was that that just dropped you off?" Sakura's mother's voice was like ice.

"Just a friend" Sakura continued walking up the stairs when she heard her mother come up the stairs. Sakura froze; her mother had grabbed a chunk of her hair and pulled back on it making Sakura tilt her head back.

"Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!" Sakura winced in pain.

"Mom, stop, please, that hurts."

"You think this hurts? Just wait until your father gets home." She shoved Sakura forward releasing her hair as she fell to the ground. Her mother looked at her in disgust and pushed past her daughter. "You're pathetic".

Sakura stayed on her hands and knees as she breathed heavy staring at the ground. She heard her mother shut her bedroom door. Sakura slowly got up and grabbed her bag as she headed for her own bedroom shutting the door quietly behind her. Sakura dropped her bag and walked over to her bed which was covered in grey sheets and covers. She sat there as she looked at the opposite wall, feeling the empty cold grow deeper inside of her. The truth was, ever since that cold had crept inside of her she couldn't cry. It was as if it fed on her emotion leaving her to over time become more and more of an empty shell. But recently she felt the cold leave her; she felt a twinge inside of her, an old friend to her body which was glad to have back. Her friends at school were to thank for that, each one, they cared for her and treated her like a person, and she could feel and actually care for them back. But everyday her parents would make the cold return to her; they were selfish and fed on her misery. Sakura put her head into her hands, wondering if the battle would ever end. Her friends were what made Sakura fight the cold; she laid her head on her pillow as she drifted away from the real world, into her own. While Sakura slept she had a dream, she was walking towards her friends who were waiting for her in the clearing behind the bush where they normally ate lunch. She smiled and waved to them as she walked, she then looked down to see the ground crumble beneath her, she started to fall into darkness, she looked up to scream for help but it was as if they couldn't hear her. She looked back down to see a rocky ravine below her getting closer by the second, right before she was about to hit the bottom she woke up. She sat up strait breathing hard, she could feel cool liquid running down from her head. At first Sakura thought she might still be dreaming, until she looked to the side of her bed to see a figure of a man. She screamed.

"Dad!"

"Get the fuck up!...NOW!" He was holding a bucket and Sakura realized he had poured water on her. Sakura quickly got out of bed to stand in front of him. Sakura glanced at the clock; it read 3:03 AM. "How are your mother and I supposed to have a good night sleep if your in here screaming?!" Sakura didn't answer, she couldn't, she was frozen. "Yeah I didn't think an idiot like you could answer that, Listen, if you wake us up one more time I'll make you sure you won't be able to move for a month! Am I understood?"

"Yes sir!" Sakura couldn't get anything more out. Her dad walked out of her room slamming the door behind him. Sakura slid down beside her soaked bed, not moving, not sleeping.

**I hope you liked the 2****nd**** chapter! I'm sorry if it's a bit short.**

**Please R&R!**


	3. I Forgot

**Here's Chapter 3! Sorry, this one took longer than expected, I had to rewrite it 3 times, but I guess this will have to do : )**

**Thank you for your reviews they were happy and made it easier for me to continue writing the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Hot Topic. Sad.**

_Thoughts_

**Chapter 3: I Forgot**

The clock flashed 5:30, Sakura deciding she had waiting long enough, sat up from beside her bed carefully. Deciding to keep the lights off as to not wake her parents up, she crept softly across her room. The sun had yet to fully rise leaving the room in shadow. She searched around her room for clothes not really caring what she picked up. She finally found a pair of black jeans with a hole in the left knee, a plain grey tank top, black converse and her black hoodie. Sakura grabbed her back pack and quietly slipped out her window, not wanting to take the chance of knocking something over on her way to the door.

It was only a few minutes after 6:00 when she started walking to school, and even though school didn't start for another hour and a half at least she wouldn't have to worry about being at home. Sakura walked as slow as one could walk while making her way to school, passing by houses seeing their morning lights come on as the street lamps went off, Sakura herself felt wide awake letting the cool morning air dance about her cheeks. To her, feeling the wind, feeling freedom was something she didn't get to endure that often, so with these thoughts in her head, she lifted her arms as if to greet the freedom around her with the new day, eyes closed as she smiled. Despite the fact that Sakura had walked beyond slow, she reached her school as the time of waiting for it to start was a whole twenty minutes shorter than last time. Deciding there was no where else to go, Sakura headed for the clearing behind the bushes in the back of the school. Once she was there she set her bag down on the grass and laid down using it as a pillow. She never noticed how peaceful it was there. She was always surrounded by the voices of her friends who weren't the quietest people in the school, with the exception of Gaara. As Sakura stared off into the sky and trees surrounding her she felt her eye lids getting heavy, _So much for not being sleepy…_

"Dude, is she dead?"

"Yeah, that's it, she's dead! Idiot."

"Look! She's moving." Sakura started to stir, as she slowly lifted open her eyes, blinking sleepily. "Hiya Sakura!" Sakura screamed and shot up to see the curious faces of her friends looking down at her.

"Ha-ha! Did you see her face?! Ouch! Tenten, no need to hit me…" Tenten looked angrily at Kiba and Naruto before returning to Sakura.

"So, how long have you been here exactly?" Sakura sat up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes before answering.

"Depends on what time it is."

"Well, right now it's the beginning of lunch." Temari said cheerfully.

"What?! I slept through four periods!" Shikamaru looked at her with wide eyes.

"You got to skip four periods just to sleep? Lucky…" He looked off into the clouds imagining him self doing so as he took a drag of his cigarette.

Together the group sat down forming a circle, Temari sitting closest to Sakura. "So, what were you doing here in the morning anyway? Were you that late for first period?"

"Actually I got here about an hour and a half early so I came here…I guess I fell asleep."

"Oh, so I guess you saw Gaara here then huh?"

Sakura tilted her head puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"Gaara always comes to this spot in the morning, at least an hour before school starts."

"No, that can't be, he's always late to first period like me."

"Ever wonder why?" Sakura glanced over at Gaara on the opposite side of the circle reading a book.

"So, he was here while I was asleep?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"I wonder why he didn't wake me up."

"Ha-ha, maybe he liked watching you sleep." Temari said moving her eye brows up down.

"Yeah, ha-ha very funny." Sakura pushed Temari's shoulder who laughed. _Seriously though, he could've at least woken me up when school started to go to class, we ARE in the same one after all. _"Did he not say anything to you in first period?"

"Well, see the thing is, he came in five minutes before class was over and by then Kakashi just made him wait outside, so I didn't get to talk to him."

"Oh…" _I'll have to ask him about this later if I get the chance. _As Sakura was making her mental note to talk to Gaara, Temari had turned to her left to engage in a conversation with Tenten, leaving Sakura to observe all her friends. She looked to her right to see Kiba silently cheering on Akamaru as he stole Naruto's lunch. Naruto was occupied talking to Hinata who just nodded and blushed. She looked across from them to see Neji glaring at Naruto while he ate his sandwich. She turned to her left to hear only a part of Tenten and Temari's conversation. "It was only as big as a lemon", _what? Never mind, I don't want to know…_She looked over to see Shikamaru still looking off into the clouds, blowing smoke into the sky as he gave a relaxing smile. Kankuro was busy carving a doll type thing out of wood, most likely for art class. Her eyes set on Gaara who was as always reading a book. They were always different books, ones that Sakura had never heard of before. None the less Sakura smiled at the group as a whole, admiring their dysfunctional beauty.

"Sakura!"

"Huh, what?" Sakura looked up to see Temari, Hinata and Tenten beaming down at her.

"Lunch is over and this time you have to go to class." Tenten bent down giving her an arm to help her off the ground.

"Heh, I knew that." The four girls set off to fifth period with Kurenai. Once they were in the room and they took their usual seats in the back of the room, turning towards each other so they could talk.

"Hey, you guys, um I couldn't help but notice something about you three." Temari, Tenten and Hinata just stared at Sakura with questioning eyes. "Well it's just, Hinata, every time you mention Naruto or are around him you blush madly. And Tenten, you're the same with Neji. It's not as noticeable, but it's there. And Temari-"

What ever you're thinking your wrong. I in no way like Shikamaru!" Sakura smirked, as Temari realized she'd just lost. "Damnit."

"So, I take it my theories are correct?" Hinata was crimson red, and Tenten had a slight flush of pink in her cheeks but yelled out.

"Okay, yeah fine, but it's not something to go spreading around to the guys! Or anyone else for that matter."

"Hah, the other people who I would tell are sitting in front of me." Temari smiled and clapped Sakura on the shoulder.

"Now, let's save all this crap for the sleep over, shall we?" At the words sleep over Sakura couldn't help her self but scream.

"Oh, shit!" Her three friends looked at her with shocked expressions but before she had time to explain Kurenai's voice came from beside Sakura.

"Miss Haruno, please gather your things and wait outside of the classroom for the rest of the period."

"But I-"

"Now!" Sakura dropped her head, grabbed her stuff and headed outside of the classroom. She put her back against the wall as she let gravity pull herself into a sitting position._ Temari is going to kill me. _

Finally the bell rang and Sakura sprung up grabbing her bag while she waited for her friends. Right as Temari came out of the classroom she looked to her right to see Sakura smiling innocently at her.

"Oh god, what did you do?"

"What! Me? Nothing, why would you say that?" Before Temari could answer Tenten and Hinata had come out of the classroom to stand on either side of Temari.

"Hey Sakura what was that all about?" The three girls waited for her reply.

"Well it's just, I uh" Sakura was now wringing here hands as she stared at her feet. "I sort of forgot some of my sleep over stuff." Temari's eyes narrowed.

"How much is some?"

"Um, well, all of it." She smiled at Temari who hit her hand to her forehead.

"How could you forget, I reminded you before we drove off!"

"Oh, well I just forget things like that sometimes." Temari whose eyes were still narrowed sprang a huge smile as if a light bulb had clicked in her head.

"I guess that means we'll have to go shopping!" The three girls had questioning eyes as they stared at Temari until Tenten spoke up.

"But, by the time we go shopping it'll be too late."

"That's why we leave right now."

"We can't just cut class to go shopping!"

"Why not? You've already missed four classes today." Sakura opened her mouth to retort but closed it as she saw Temari's point.

"What do you say guys? We can get new outfits for the party and for the sleep over!"

"Speak for your self." Tenten had her hands on her hips. "I'm completely broke." Hinata and Sakura both nodded in agreement. Temari smirked at them and started to dig through her purse.

"Ah, but loves, that's what we have this for." Temari pulled a shiny plastic credit card. Hinata squeaked.

"Temari, that's your mothers!"

"Your point? Look, both my parents have like five each. This credit card is the card they leave behind when they travel just in case there is an emergency at the house."

"But Temari you're using it to go shopping."

"For an emergency! We four need cute new outfits. It's what we as women must do from time to time." At this evil grins appeared on Sakura's and Tenten's faces. Hinata spoke up.

"Well I suppose we could-"before Hinata could finish her sentence the three girls had already started to pull her out of the school. The four girls raced to Temari's car as fast as they could so they wouldn't be caught. Temari got behind the wheel as the rest filled into the car. Temari looked at the three before giving an evil laugh.

"Now, it's off to the mall!" Once the four girls arrived at the mall, knowing that they were on a time limit before school ended ran to the same store. When they realized what they had all done they giggled as they looked up to the sign which read, "Hot Topic" while passing in. The girls huddled into a circle as Temari started to talk. "Okay, now, your requirements are, get a cute outfit, Hinata, Tenten will be picking out your clothing since you always pick the baggy clothing. You also will get a pair of pajamas and any side items you want. It is after all on my parents!" Temari gave a smirk as the four girls split to look for outfits, Tenten grabbing Hinata's hand as she left.

After about half an hour the girls met by the dressing rooms. The girls discussed it and decided Temari should be first to model her out fit since she was in a way to thank for the clothes. When Temari came out Sakura and Tenten whistled at her as she spun. She had chosen a black mini skirt which held tight around her curves and flowed loosely around her thighs, a dark purple V-neck shirt which rose slightly above her belly button and under that a long sleeve fishnet shirt. She had on combat boots which went up a little below her knee, and 10 silver clinging bracelets on each arm. She did a few more poses for her friends, laughing as Hinata chimed in.

"You look beautiful Temari!" Temari gave a small bow before grabbing Sakura and shoving her into the dressing room.

"Your turn Sakura!" After a few minutes Sakura slowly came out.

"I don't know you guys, I sort of feel weird in this."

"What?! Shut up, you look amazing!" Tenten said cheerfully.

"Yeah!" Temari said, "Now, let's see you give us some poses." Sakura smiled as she started giving weird quirky poses. Sakura looked lovely; she had on low rise black skinny jeans, a black tank top corset which came up just below her belly button. She wore simple black slip on shoes and a few bracelets on her left arm. After doing several poses Sakura looked at the clock perched on the wall.

"Oh shit! You guys we have ten minutes to get back to school or the guys will have our heads!" Three girls too looked at the clock. Temari shot up and looked at Tenten and Hinata.

"Can I trust you that your clothes are equally hot?" They both nodded. "Even Hinata's?" Ten smiled cheerfully.

"Yep! I didn't give into her denials! Temari smiled.

"Great!" Turning her head towards Sakura, "Okay, let's change out of these quickly so we can pay for them and run!" Sakura and Temari ran into the changing room, getting into their regular clothes in record speed Temari ran out first with hers and Sakura's clothes in her hand as she grabbed Tenten's and Hinata's and ran to pay for them. Once they were paid for the four girls sprinted out of the mall to the car and sped off to arrive just as the school bell had rung. Hinata and Tenten ran off from the car with their new clothes in hand. Temari took her and Sakura's bag since Sakura was coming home with Temari early.

"I'm going to hide the clothes in the trunk so Kankuro and Gaara won't get suspicious. Oh, and here go ahead and get in the front seat before Kankuro gets here." She handed Sakura the keys after she had opened the trunk. Sakura seated herself in the front seat of the car. It really was a nice car, though Sakura didn't know what kind of car it was, she did know it was black and the roof came down. She pressed a button and watched as the roof slowly slid up and over her as it disappeared behind her. Temari got in the front seat beside her as Sakura tilted her head back.

"I really do love your car"

"Thanks, but it's not mine. It's actually Gaara's; he found it in a junk yard and fixed it up. I'm just driving until he gets his license."

"But isn't he sixteen and already can get his license?"

"Seventeen actually, and yes, he's just lazy."

"Hah! Even Shikamaru has his and he's worse than anyone I know."

"Which brings us to one of the many mysteries which make up Gaara." On that note Kankuro and Gaara walked to the car, Gaara sliding into the back seat as usual. Kankuro however stared at Sakura as she sat in his front seat. Sakura and Temari both glared at him until he finally gave up and slumped into the back seat. Temari checked her mirrors and backed up as she zoomed out of the parking lot. The ride was unusually quiet, too quiet for Temari who spoke up.

"So whose house did the guys decide to stay at tonight?" Kankuro and Gaara answered at the same time.

"Naruto's"-"Kiba's" Sakura and Temari exchanged looks, while at the time they heard a thump and an ouch come from Kankuro before he spoke up.

"I mean Naruto's." Sakura looked back to see Kankuro rubbing his head as Gaara glared at him.

**It's a tad short but for the next chapter to make sense it sort of has to be.**

**Please R&R, I'd love to hear your thoughts, good or bad.**


	4. Friday

**Chapter 4!**

**Thank you for the reviews they were once again, happy and helpful.**

**In this chapter we have other peoples thoughts come in, mainly it is Sakura but Gaara's will be shown too and I perhaps Neji's on one part…**

**And Sakura's inner self in some situations. And a warning, this is a high school Fanfic so the plot will have to change a lot, as you have noticed. I try to stick to their character as much as possible. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

_Thoughts_

_**Inner thoughts **_

**Chapter 4: Friday**

Sakura sat on the edge of Temari's bed while her eyes wandered around the room. The walls would have been the color of white that is if you could see them. They were cover with dozens and dozens of posters of bands and movies. There were the occasional pictures, one picture had a small girl with four spiky buns holding a small boy with brown hair and purple markings on his face in a headlock while she smiled sticking her tongue out. A smaller boy with fiery red hair was sitting in front of them concentrating on building a sand castle, Gaara, of course. There were a few more photos of Temari and her brothers when they were younger, maybe one or two with their parents. What caught Sakura's attention was a picture of a bunch of goofy looking teenagers, not in the least bit sober, smiling at the camera. By now Sakura had stood up to get a closer look, she suddenly started to laugh.

"Huh, what is it?" Temari popped her head up beside Sakura, "Oh! That's us freshman year. Well, my sophomore year. It was when Shikamaru had become our friend." Sakura looked at Temari, a questioning expression. Temari smiled and skipped over to a desk beside her bed, sliding open a drawer and grabbed something, closing drawer and skipping back to Sakura. Temari had grabbed a black picture book, she stood before Sakura flipping through the pages, stopping around the middle and handed it to her. It was a picture Temari, her two brothers and Naruto smiling and sticking their tongues out. _Heh_, _Gaara's smiling._ From the looks of it, they weren't much older than seven. Sakura smiled at Temari who nudged her to turn the page. This time there were five people smiling up at the camera. There was Temari, her brothers and Naruto, but this time there was a small girl with brown hair set up in two buns, waving to the camera grinning widely. _Tenten. _Sakura flipped to the next page, the picture this time contained newly added Hinata smiling shyly, and Neji looking serious, but calm, a long with the rest of the group, each seemingly more their own person, at about thirteen of age. _Hey, wait…_

"Temari, why isn't Gaara in this picture?"

"Oh, "Temari looked nervously at Sakura before walking over to her door to shut and lock it, "You would be told eventually I guess." Sakura was giving her, her full attention, curiosity growing, "When I was fourteen, Gaara 13, our parents found this boarding school in England they liked. They had been searching for one because Gaara kept getting in trouble for fighting at school. Despite how much we all protested, they sent him there, thinking it would straiten him out'. But what they didn't know is that that school was fucked up. It was an all boy's school with all guy teachers with the exception of the principal. Now, things were normal at first, Gaara hated it, he was miserable and parents were satisfied. But one night during the second semester I received a phone call from him. He sounded panicked; he was trying to catch his breath while talking. Turns out one of the teachers slipped something in his food and he passed out. When he woke, he was in a white room where three other boys who were a couple years younger than him stood frightened in a corner. Gaara looked around and saw his principal and two teachers standing and smiling. The two teachers were behind cameras, the principal in between them wearing a robe." Temari sighed, "After that Gaara doesn't remember anything." Sakura was frozen; her heart beat fast as she had a sudden sense and rush of what made up Gaara.

"What do you mean, did they drug him more?"

"No, Gaara blacked out in his own mental state. When he came to the room was destroyed, the cameras were in pieces and the two teachers and the principal were lying on top of each other, unconscious and bloody as hell. The three other boys' in the room were in the same corner, and when Gaara tried to ask them what had happened, they were too scared to answer. I think around then was when I received my phone call from him. Later the three boys were able to choke out something about how Gaara had fought the three sick ass-holes. In different words of course. Anyways, Gaara refuses to talk about it, basically all the information I told you was from the police when he told them because he had to." Temari turned the page of the picture book; sure enough Gaara was back, with the new addition of Kiba." Though Gaara has never been one to socialize much, after that night he was changed. He hardly ever smiled anymore; he seemed almost cold at times, with new walls built inside him. Just different."

"I hate hearing this story." Sakura and Temari spun around to see Hinata and Tenten standing inside the bedroom; sad expressions.

"When the Hell did you guys come in?! And wasn't my door locked?" Tenten spoke again.

"About 5 minutes ago and yes it was. Pitiful locks, really." Temari rolled her eyes, turning back to Sakura.

"Now Gaara is sort of like everyone's self appointed protector. He would protect his friends with his life. You got a little taste of that when he punched Sasuke, but I have to say he adapted to thinking of you as a friend quicker than anyone in the past. Normally it takes at least a month for him." Temari, eyes wide, gasped but calmed down and decided to observe her new found theory. Sakura however, failed to notice this, lost in her own thoughts. _So, is this Gaara? Is this what plays through his mind? __**You know who he sounds like? **__Fuck off. __**Nice. **__Yeah, I just told my own self to fuck off; I'm crazy, mhm, yep. _Tenten looked around, seeing her two friends staring into space, she looked worriedly at them and decided to change the subject.

"How about we get changed for the party?" Hinata saw the her attempts, adding on.

"Yeah! I can't wait you guys to see my outfit" she lied. Temari and Sakura took a few more moments in their thoughts, before turning to smile and nod. The four girls took their shopping bags, emptying their contents onto Temari's bed.

"So," Temari clapped her hands together cheerfully, "Since Hinata can't wait to show us her outfit, she can dress first!" Temari smirked, seeing Hinata regret she ever said that. She grabbed her clothes from the pile and changed while the girls waited. Once Hinata finished she stood still, knowing her friends would want to look at her new outfit. She was wearing a black mini skirt, similar to Temari's except for the thread in the stitching was dark blue. Her low tank top was the same dark blue as her skirts thread, hugging her curves. She wore black fishnet stocking which stopped mid-thigh. Around her neck was a black lace choker with a silver gothic cross hanging from it. Hinata held her arms crossed in front of her, trying to hide her newly exposed cleavage from her new tank top.

"Oi! Hinata!" Temari smirked, "Uncross your arms and have so confidence! You look awesome!" Temari glared at Hinata until she lowered her arms giving a small smile.

"Excellent, you're gorgeous!" Sakura smiled, "Now Tenten, we are still waiting for your performance!"

"Oh, right away milady" Tenten did a small bow as the four girls giggled.

Tenten stood confidently in front of the three girls as they took in her outfit. She had on dark forest green low rise shorts, which ended just above her knees, a black skinny strap top which rose just below her belly button, black fishnet arm gloves and a simple black string choker which wrapped around her knew a few times.

"So, Temari, did I do a good job?"

"Hah, hell yeah! Neji and Naruto are going to love you guys." Temari was standing up smirking while grabbing her clothes to get changed. Sakura had already changed and was sitting crisscross on the bed next to Hinata.

"Um, Hinata, I noticed Gaara has insomnia from the rings around his eyes. Is what happened at that school the reason for it?"

"Oh…yes."

"Okay." Temari jumped on the bed smiling.

"So guys, ready to go downstairs and greet the guys?" Tenten came over, sitting opposite side of Temari.

"I am, but hey, did you notice anything strange with the guys?"

"Um, no…wait, well sort of. When we were driving home from school earlier today I asked them whose house the guys had chosen to stay at, Gaara said Naruto while Kankuro said Kiba at the same time. Gaara then hit Kankuro, making him say Naruto instead. That was a tad weird I guess. What happened with you?"

"Well it's just, they're all being especially quiet, and Neji is stuttering worse than Hinata." Hinata nodded in agreement. The four girls pondered the weird behavior of their friends, while the guys were having a similar conversation downstairs in the basement.

"So, uh, do you think their suspicious of us?" Kiba asked the group of guys as they sat around on the over stuffed couches.

"Of course not, why would they be? I mean, Neji's only stuttering worse than Hinata! Dumbshit."

"Kankuro, do I need to remind you that it was you who almost gave us away in the car?"

"I thought we decided on Kiba!"

"Hn, dumb ass."

"This is so troublesome though."

"Hey, you know what girls talk about at sleepovers! And don't tell me you don't want to know what Temari has to say." Shikamaru let a small pink rise in his cheeks, avoiding eye contact with Kankuro and Gaara who were sending him glares. After Naruto's comment to Shikamaru everyone seemed to spark up sending random arguments over the group. Gaara however took this moment to speak up.

"Shut up." The guys seemed to quiet down as Neji let Naruto out of a headlock. "Now, just act normal; that means Neji stop with the stuttering, and be your regular selves and we'll be fine."

"Pff, act normal, easy for you to say. But come on, we're talking about our girls, they're scary when they get mad!" Kankuro put a scared look on his face.

"And to add to that they have Sakura now! Gaara, you saw her kick Sasuke's ass with me, she's vicious."

"She may be vicious but who says we're going to get caught buddy?" Kiba had an evil grin on his face as he slung an arm around Naruto.

"Kiba has a point, amazingly enough. We won't get caught."

"I'm all for it, but if we do get caught I'm blaming it on you." Kiba said, while he sat cross armed across from Gaara.

"Do what you want, we won't get caught." The other guys looked at Gaara and then to each other before nodding.

"Yep, blaming it on Gaara."

"Yep."

"Good luck Gaara."

Gaara glared at them all, but knew it was the only way for them to not chicken out. "Gee thanks."

"Anytime Buddy!" Kiba patted Gaara on his back. "Besides, Sakura is hot, can't wait for that!" Kankuro came in.

"I know! It should be pretty good." Without realizing it, Gaara glared at the two but quickly caught himself, returning back to his mono tone expression, shoving Kiba to the ground, releasing a smirk.

"Besides, Sakura is hot, can't wait for that!"

"I know! It should be pretty good."

_Idiots. Wait, why is Gaara looking at them like that? It's not his usual death to the world glare…Heh; I'll just have to keep an eye on this. _

(Back to the girls)

"Okay, how about we go about the evening as planned and if the guys try anything, we'll just show them our wrath." Sakura had broken the silence with her words; the three girls looked up at her and agreed in unison, "Okay."

There was a knock at the door. "Hey! What the fuck is taking you girls so long!?"

"Can it Kankuro, we'll be down in a minute!" Kankuro slumped and made his way back downstairs to the basement, game room.

"They said they'd be down in a minute."

"Hmpf, knowing girls we are going to be waiting for another hour."

"Want to say that again?" Shikamaru's eyes shot up to see a smirking Temari. Shikamaru let his eyes wander up and down her, taking in her newly exposed form. _Damn._ While Shikamaru let his thoughts wander, the other three girls appeared, leaving the other guys to gawk at them, making Kankuro speak up.

"Damn! You guys look hot!" Naruto still speechless, was staring at Hinata, occasionally in certain areas he would get hit for. Neji who normally would have Naruto in a headlock was entranced with Tenten, an occasional blush spreading to his cheeks. Gaara was currently having trouble maintaining his monotone expression when he saw Sakura standing next to Hinata. Sakura looked up, catching her eyes with Gaara's, staying frozen, neither one really knowing what was going on until Temari's voice broke their thoughts.

"Jeeze, perverts. Let's get our party going already!" The four girls walked down, seating themselves randomly on the couches. There were three of them, over stuffed and velvety with the smell of febreze. Kiba, Kankuro and Naruto had already started on the video games, screaming about which pair would go against each other first. Temari switched on the stereo and slipped in a mixed CD, the first song being Hero by 30 seconds to Mars, and following that Candy Man by Aqua, and continuing on with a combination of rock and techno. Temari then, reached over the couch to a table to grab a phone and threw it at Kankuro. "Order the pizza!"

Kankuro was now holding the top part of his head, one eye open, "Damnit Temari! You didn't have to peg it at me so hard!"

"I didn't, I simply tossed it and your head just happened to be in the way. It's your own fault really." Temari stuck her tongue out at him as Kankuro flipped her off but started dialing the number on the phone.

"Yeah, I want to order-"Naruto jumped and collapsed in front of Kankuro.

"Cheese!"

"Three cheeses, uh" Temari glared at Kankuro, "One cheese with out sauce for my idiot sister… Shit, Temari, watch the head!" Temari smirked as she held her cell phone up threatening him with it. "Sakura what kind of pizza do you like?"

"Cheese is fine."

"Add another cheese to that…Yes with sauce!"

"Hey, hey, Oi! Kankuro, dude, Akamaru and I need some meat!"

"Uh, two with sausage and pepperoni and four with just pepperoni. Yeah, thanks." Kankuro set the phone down, "About half an hour." Sakura turned to Temari,

"Did we just order 11 pizzas?"

"Yup! Actually we normally get more…"

"Oh…pigs." Sakura was smiling until Temari creamed her in the faced with a pillow, "Hey! Okay, I'm a pig too, happy?"

"Yes." Temari smiled at Sakura before turning to Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, how many times do I have to tell you? No smoking inside!"

"Well I don't want to go outside by myself; your house is creepy at night!"

"It's only seven o'clock."

"It's still dark outside." Temari rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fine I'll go with you, just hurry up." Shikamaru smiled as they headed through a sliding door with dark blue curtains.

"Shut the Damn door, it's freezing out there!" Temari stuck her head through the door and spit her tongue out at Kankuro before shutting the door.

Sakura and Tenten were on a couch whispering something before both turning to Hinata with evil smiles. Hinata, who was talking to Neji, turned to see them, returning a scared smile.

"Uh, hi…"

"Hinata…Sakura and I want to play with your hair!" Sakura and Tenten gave innocent smiles.

"Oh, um, okay…" Their evil smiles returned as they brought Hinata to sit on the floor against the couch in front of them. After about ten minutes of brushing, pulling, squeaks from Hinata and pony tails they were done, smiling proudly at their work. They handed Hinata a mirror, letting her look in to see her hair had been set up in a messy bun, with little strands of hair hanging loose around her face and other various parts of her head. She turned around smiling at the two, "Are you sure I look okay?"

"What? Yes! Here, I'll prove it." Sakura spun Hinata around quickly, "Hey, Naruto!"

"Eh, what?" Naruto turned from his video games, eyes stopping on Hinata.

"Hinata?"

"Doesn't Hinata look pretty with her hair up?" Sakura smirked as she watched Naruto stare at Hinata who was blushing madly.

"Y-yes, you look beautiful!" Naruto had a slight pink in his cheeks as Kiba laughed silently at him from behind. Neji however was glaring daggers into Naruto who finally caught on and gave an awkward smile before turning around, hitting Kiba in the arm. Of course, him hitting Kiba in the arm made Kiba hit him back, and eventually got them to start wrestling on the ground, leaving Kankuro to walk over to the couches to join the three girls, Neji and Gaara in conversation.

"See, you look great." Hinata was still blushing as she smiled at Sakura and got up to sit next to Neji again.

"Oi, Kiba, Naruto, quit fucking around; you're going to break something!" Kankuro bellowed, throwing a pillow at them.

"Fine…I'm getting tired anyway," Naruto stood, stretching his arms in the air before taking a seat next to Gaara, as Kiba took one next to Sakura.

"So…guys! Anyone for truth or dare?"

"Idiot, Kiba, what are we in the third grade?" Tenten yelled at Kiba.

"Fine…spin the bottle it is!" Before Tenten or any of group could argue, Kankuro had run to his fridge and grabbed a bottle and set it on the table.

"We're playing with a ketchup bottle?" Sakura lifted an eyebrow, smiling at his attempt.

"It was the only thing I could find." Kankuro put his hands up in defense, continuing on, "Everyone gather around the table. Sakura, can you go and get Temari and Shikamaru?"

"Sure." Sakura stood up from the couch and made her way to the sliding door. She opened the door and froze as blush rose to her cheeks. "Oh, sorry, we're playing spin the bottle." Sakura walked back to the couch in shock, still red in the cheeks. Temari followed her, smirking, as Shikamaru followed, not smirking but shocked and had crimson cheeks as he looked at the ground, taking a seat next to Temari.

"Eh, Sakura, you okay?"

"Shikamaru, you know smoking is bad!"

"Yeah, but you've never tried it."

"So let me."

"No, it's bad for you." Shikamaru smirked, taking a drag of his cigarette. Temari became frustrated, but a thought formed in her head, making her smile. She pouted her lips, moving in close to Shikamaru, letting her body brush against his.

"Won't you let me just once?" Shikamaru became stiff, slight redness filling his cheeks. "I only want to know what it is that can keep you so attentive" Temari moved in closer, letting the heat from their bodies intertwine, pressing her body against his, and staring into his eyes. Shikamaru felt his voice abandon him, taking in her scent, the way her body felt against his, fighting the taunting thoughts which were forming in his mind. He felt her hand brush against his. Temari took a few steps back smirking, his cigarette in hand. She lifted it to her mouth, but noticed a third person.

"Oh, sorry, we're playing spin the bottle." Sakura stood frozen, blush filling her cheeks. She turned around as she led them to the couches, Temari smirking, Shikamaru blushing behind her.

"I'm great, um, let's start the game, shall we?"

"Well, take your seat next to Gaara."

"Oh, right." Sakura went down to the table as every one sat on their knees, waiting for her. Kankuro spoke up,

"Great, so since your new here it would only be right for you to spin first. But, we are never right, so I'll be going first!"

"Shouldn't we at least have rules for this game?" The group stared at Kiba to continue. "Okay, for example, no wimpy kisses, I'll be the timer when it's not my turn, we each have twenty seconds." Kiba ignored the protests of some of his friends, "Oh, and no guy on guy kissing. But girl on girl is perfectly fine." Sakura slammed her hands on the table.

"If you guys land on each other, you WILL kiss each other, just like us!" Kiba sunk down, cowering, as the other three girls agreed.

Neji laughed nervously, "Oh boy, this is going to be interesting."

"Um, end of rules, Kankuro, your turn!" Kankuro gave a nervous look before spinning the red ketchup bottle. The bottle spun around, going for a few seconds as the group watched it, tension rising as it slowed down and stopped. Kankuro slowly lifted his head to see a frozen Kiba.

"Curse you Kiba…"

"How is this my fault?"

"You had to go be a dumb ass and get bad Karma on yourself."

Sakura grinned, "Aren't you two going to kiss?" Neither answered, "Don't make us hurt you." knowing the truth in Sakura's words they both scrambled up, facing each other. Their friends trying hard not to laugh, Gaara spoke, "Well?"

"Okay! Okay Kiba, let's just get this over with."

"Fine." The two boys closed their eyes as they moved in closer and touched each others lips and then sprang apart. "There, we did it!"

"Hmm, who was it that said twenty seconds, no wimpy kisses?" Temari looked to Sakura.

"Oh I don't know, could it be Kiba?"

"You know, you're right!" Temari turned to the two boys, "Now, come on, let's see some tongue action."

"No way in hell!" Sakura and Temari rose, soon after accompanied by the rest of the group, all with evil grins on their faces. "Even you guys? Traitors!" Shikamaru smiled.

"Sorry dude but this is too good to pass up." Kiba and Kankuro sent death glares to them, "Fuckers." They turned back to each other, moving their bodies in as their heads moved in, feeling one another's warmth as their lips touched, bodies frozen, thoughts going hay wire, Kiba taking the initiative, moving his tongue in, Kankuro letting him before he could think, both exploring their new play ground. Eight pairs of eyes watched in astonishment and the two boy's continued.

"Um, you guys, I said times up." Sakura spoke quietly; watching the two boys pull away and turn crimson. They looked at one another, each trying to read the others expression before Kankuro spoke.

"Well, let's see, Neji here, your turn."

"Yeah, thanks." The group reseated themselves around the table, quiet at first, but the tension soon wore off. Neji placed the bottle on the table and gave it a sharp spin. It span around about a dozen times before landing on Tenten. Naruto grinned ear to ear, clapping Neji on the back, who then sent him a glare. Tenten stood up, walking slowly over to Neji, while he too stood up to meet her. Kiba looked at his watch.

"I'll tell you when to start. Aaand, now!" Neji took Tenten's chin in his hand, looking into her eyes, crashing their lips together. _Finally_. The group watched as the two forms moved closer together, pressing against one another. Tenten's arms moved around his neck, while he wrapped his arms around her waste, both like puzzle pieces.

"Times up!" Kiba smirked as the group watched them turn red, taking their seats. Neji cleared his throat.

"Um, Sakura, here you can go."

"Thanks." _Damnit. _Sakura placed the bottle on the hard surface, giving it a spin, closing her eyes, waiting for the results. _Who would I like it to be? __**Maybe Gaara? **__No, crazy. __**I'm you. **__Fuck. _Sakura's heart jumped when she heard the bottle stop, slowly lifting her eye lids to see the bottle pointing next to her towards Gaara. _**I win.**_ Gaara wore no facial expression, though Sakura could have swore she saw him smirk just seconds before. Sakura and Gaara silently agreed not to stand up, feeling they were quite capable of kissing from where they sat.

"Way to go little bro!" Kankuro winked at him, though it was ignored.

Both who had been avoiding eye contact, looked up at the same moment, suddenly emerged into each others eyes. They slowly started forth to one another, entranced, oblivious to the eight friends. Sakura's heart beat was rapid, having kissed before, but never has she experienced this much of an affect with even kissing the person. She could feel his hot breath on her, caressing her skin, anticipating his soft lips, -**Ding Dong-** Kiba jumped up.

"Pizza's hear!" The group got up; yelling, chanting, other sorts when dramatic thoughts fill your mind, convincing yourself you're starving for pizza.

Sakura and Gaara remained frozen a few moments more, _Why did I want that kiss so bad? Did he too, want it? No. _Gaara came to first, and almost like he read her thoughts, smirked and got up to join the others in eating. _Jerk. _Sakura became annoyed, hating his smart ass smirk, but not wanting him to know he'd got to her, quickly got up, and grabbed a slice of cheese. Sakura looked up to see Temari changing the songs on the stereo. _Here's my chance. _Sakura came up next to Temari, speaking in a low voice.

"Yo, Temari, what was going on with you and Shikamaru?"

"Oh, it was nothing."

"Hah, looked like something to me." Sakura was smirking, waiting for an answer.

"No, I mean really it wasn't anything. I'll just explain later when the guys leave."

"Yeah, you better." The two girls giggled deviant like.

"Oh, shit."

"What?"

"When I forgot my stuff at my house I forgot my medicine, too."

"Your medicine?"

"It's just some medicine I have to take before I sleep."

"What does it do?"

"It's just for anxiety and slight depression."

"I didn't know you needed medicine for that."

"It's mainly the anxiety, it's just really severe."

"What happens if you don't take it?"

"Oh, I'd probably just pass out or something, look I'm just going to walk over to my house, it's only about ten blocks away."

"Okay, well hey you'll need someone to go with you, HEY GAARA!"

"No, really I'll be fine."

"Don't be stupid. Gaara," Gaara had walked over, now staring at the two, "Sakura needs to go to her house and get something, walk her there okay?"

"Really, I can go al-"

"Let's go." Sakura stood stunned but decided not to argue. They made there way to the front as their friends yelled and waved good bye. Sakura stepped outside, feeling the crisp night air hit her. _I should have brought my hoodie._

"You should have brought your hoodie." Sakura looked down at the sidewalk as they walked, she just then realized she'd been clutching her arms tightly, and shaking. When Sakura didn't respond Gaara rolled his eyes _Women, _andtook off his own hoodie and held it out to her. "Here." Sakura looked up from her feet.

"Oh, no, that's okay."

"You're cold."

"And it's my fault for not taking my hoodie. Not a mistake you have to pay for."

"I don't get cold easy, just take it."

"Liar."

"Just take it." Gaara thrust it in her arms, Sakura deciding she didn't want to argue over a sweatshirt anymore, put it on. _He smells nice. Warm._

"You're stubborn you know that."

"Hn." Sakura rolled her eyes, both making their way down the side walk, the only sound coming from their own foot steps. Sakura cleared her throat.

"So, why exactly were you and Temari so insistent of someone going with me?"

"Sasuke."

"Not really following." Gaara sighed.

"Look, Sasuke and his friends live around here, they're idiots, have a car and it's Friday night."

"So…you came for my protection?"

"Basically."

"Well in that case you can go back. I don't need anyone to protect me."

"I know you can fight, it's just, no matter how much I despise Sasuke…he can fight."

"And I can beat him."

"I know, but Sasuke and his friends are pretty strong together, and won't take it easy on you."

"As if they would need to," Sakura felt anger rising in her, "What's the worst they would do?"

"To put it short, they have no respect for women and the word no.'"

"Oh…"

"He uses Ino as a way to pass time, fucking her when ever he pleases, then leaving her when he gets bored."

"Why does she let him do that?"

"She thinks he loves her, and he keeps it that way. I once even heard him convince her that it would mean a lot to him if she'd be his friend's toy for a couple nights. She's an idiot."

"Almost makes me want to feel bad for her." Gaara raised an invisible eye brow. "Almost."

The rest of the walk was quiet, a few cars going by to break the silence and the rustling of the leaves.

"And we're here." Sakura headed towards her door, but took a turn half way to a tree in front of her house.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"Oh well, my parents aren't home."

"I guess you don't use keys?"

"Why would I want a key when I can just climb a tree and go through my window?"

"Hn, I don't know." Gaara followed her into the tree. Sakura stepped on the roof, helping Gaara up before prying open her window and falling in, rolling on the floor. Gaara stepped into the room with his arms crossed. "Nice." Sakura sent him a glare and popped up from the ground.

"Be absolutely quiet."

"I thought no one was home."

"They aren't, just be quiet anyways." They stood in a room, engulfed in darkness, the moons silvery light coming through the window. "Now, I'm going downstairs to get my medicine, you just stay here until I get back."

"Hn." _Medicine? _Sakura walked to her door, opening it and closing it without making a sound leaving Gaara to stand in her room, taking in all of what is Sakura. There were clothes strewn out over the floor, posters on the wall, and a desk which was cluttered with a few notebooks, and tons of papers and books. Gaara walked over to the desk, picking up the first paper within reach. It was her math home work; at least he thought it was. The entire paper was covered in doodles and little side notes, and when looked at from afar, just seemed like a page torn out of a sketchbook. Before Gaara could collect his thoughts on the next paper, he heard a loud crashing noise and an older male voice yelling something. Gaara tried to make out what he was yelling, but his words were slurred. Gaara's mind then snapped, he heard Sakura scream; he dropped the paper and ran out of the room towards the voice. He stopped in the hall, panic level rising, looking to his left to see stairs, running down them. He looked around, everything was dark until he caught sight of a dim light illuminating on the other side of the house. He ran, realizing it was the kitchen. Once he got to the kitchen he stopped as his feet hit the cool tiles. He looked down across in the middle of the kitchen to see Sakura on the ground clutching her stomach, losing consciousness. Around her lay shards of a once whole Vodka bottle, letting her lay in a puddle of harsh liquid. Gaara watched her as she cringed in pain, trying to hold onto the world, yet no tears escaping her eyes.

"Who the fuck, are you?" Gaara eyes were set on his fallen pink haired friend. His eyes narrowed, and clenched his fist which bled from the pressure he held them at. He shook with anger, feeling it boil up inside him. Gaara looked up to see a swaying man with an unbroken bottle of vodka in his hand, sneering at Gaara.

"Who are you? Why are you here?!"

"This is my fucking house! Now, who are you?!" A spark lit inside Gaara, taking a step back.

"Y-you're Sakura's father?"

"Unfortunately… What? Are you the little whore's boyfriend?"

"Don't call her that you bastard!"

"Why not? She's nothing but a slut in my eyes."

"Say one more fucking word and I swear I'll-"

"You'll what? Are you going to teach me a lesson? In my house?" Gaara now shook uncontrollably, feeling his anger reach its point.

"Yes, if I have to." Sakura's father let out a shrill laughter, taking a swig of his bottle, letting droplets run down his chin. He smirked, getting onto his knees, watching Gaara as if to tempt him. He raised his hand to Sakura, about to slap her. Gaara snapped, Sakura's father now laid passed out on the other side of the kitchen, blood cascading from his nose. Gaara stood over Sakura, pulling in his bloody fist. He knelt down picking her up bridal style, grabbing a pill bottle which lay beside her head. He stood and headed out of the kitchen, turning around at the door and calming speaking.

"Don't fucking touch her."

**Authors Note: Wow that was longer than expected. I hope you liked it, please R&R, Hah. **


	5. Friday Part Two

**Chapter 5!**

**Thank you for you reviews, they were pretty!**

**Oh, and I just want to say, I don't hate Sasuke and Ino, really, it's just they're so much fun to use as the bad guys. Yeah? Okay…**

**Gaara in this chapter might seem different, but just to point it out, I based all their personalities off of the shippuuden episodes and chapters, because I read and watch it. Yay? Yes. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…**

_Thoughts_

_**Inner Thoughts**_

**Chapter 5: Friday part 2**

Sakura crept in the kitchen towards the stove, switching on its lights. She reached above it to a wooden cabinet, and quietly started to rifle through it. She eyed her pill bottle in the back of the cabinet and smiled. _Gotcha_. Sakura then heard a noise at the opening of the kitchen, "Gaara I…" Sakura closed the cabinet and looked over to the source of the noise. "Dad…"

"Who's Gaara?" He started forward, eyeing her maliciously. Sakura could smell the alcohol accenting from his body. She felt words abandoning her. Her father's eyes narrowed. "Where have you been?"

"W-what?" Sakura's father continued walking, his grip on two alcohol bottles in his hands tightened. He raised his right arm and smashed a half full vodka bottle at Sakura's feet, making her scream.

"Answer me!"

"I've just been with friends!" Sakura's back hit the kitchen wall. Her father came in close, squeezing her right shoulder making her wince. He smirked, knowing she was in pain.

"You're weak."

Sakura's eyes widened, as she spoke barely above a whisper. "No." Sakura's father narrowed his eyes.

"Don't talk back to me you worthless bitch!" He released his grip on her shoulder and swung it into her gut. Sakura felt all the wind leaving her, as she let out a cough, spitting up blood. Her father grabbed her and threw her across to the middle of the kitchen, letting her land hard on the cold damp tiled floor, letting the alcohol seep into her clothes.

Sakura hadn't felt it though. It was like a dream. Sounds started to die away. Her father's screams became soft echoes, her vision was becoming blurry, and her breathing was short and painful. Her anxiety was kicking in, feeling her head spin faster and fast. She looked beside her to see her medicine lying in the puddle. Sakura tried to stretch her arm for it, but realized she couldn't move. Her lids were becoming heavy; the cold was filling her insides making her wonder why she even tried. Her eyes shifted towards the opening of the kitchen-her escape. There was someone in her escape, standing there, _Gaara…_ Sakura let go, slipping into unconsciousness.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sakura felt the cold air moving all around her, blowing every which way, swishing her hair. There was something warm against her. She tried to shift towards the warmth, curling in her knees, pushing her face into the warmth. The warmth had a scent. A wonderful scent. She tried to get in closer, nuzzling her nose in as a small smile graced her lips.

"You're going to make me drop you." Sakura's eyes shot open as she sprung her legs out landing on the side walk. She attempted to stand up but just fell back over as shots of pain were sent through her stomach and chest. She seethed in pain, clutching her stomach as what had happened flooded her memory. She slowly lifted her head to see Gaara knelt down beside her, looking at her with a hint of worry in his eyes. Sakura felt her throat go dry.

"How much did you see?"

"Enough to know you're not going back there." Gaara wasn't looking at her anymore, but instead was opening an orange pill bottle and reaching for a single white, oval shaped pill, and handed it to Sakura. Sakura glared at him, but knew that if she wanted to continue with the conversation without passing out she would need to take it. Sakura Snatched up the pill and dry swallowed it. She looked back up to Gaara.

"I'm fine and I will return there."

"You don't look fine to me." Sakura stood up, feeling pain shoot through her body, but ignored it, not wanting to show it. Gaara in turn stood up, facing her.

"You were supposed to stay in my room."

"And what ignore the fact that my friends life may have been in danger?"

"I would have been fine."

"Sakura, you were passed out on the kitchen floor seconds after I got there."

"I would have woken up!" Sakura's face was flushed, the cold night air making her voice hoarse as she yelled.

"That's not the point! You could have been injured more, then what?"

"It wouldn't be anything new!"

"Why do you let him do that to you?!" It was the first time Gaara showed emotion in his voice. Sakura was at loss for words. "Why don't you fight back?" Gaara was now standing a few inches away from Sakura, looking down into her emerald eyes.

"He's my father…it was my own fault in the first place. I know better than to talk back to him." Sakura's voice was lowered into a whisper as she stared back into his jade eyes, watching them as they widened.

"You're his daughter…how can you think you're the one to blame?" Gaara's expression was something of a child staring like he couldn't comprehend the figure in front of him.

Sakura averted her eyes to the ground, "I-I don't know. I mean, I do, and I have since I can remember. It wasn't as bad when I was little, but as the years went on, he and my mother both grew more and more fond of drinking. It killed any compassion left in them."

"Wait, you're mother too?" Sakura nodded. Gaara felt anger boiling throughout his insides. He hated her parents. He knew something was odd about her, but this was far from any thought that had crossed his mind. Why her parents or any parents for that matter who think that abuse is okay, he would never get. They were selfish people, and he knew one thing. _She is not going back. _Sakura's eyes widened and looked back into Gaara's.

"Gaara, what happened to my father?" Gaara hesitantly lifted his fist, presenting dry, cracked blood which had managed to cover it almost completely.

"No!" Sakura grabbed his shirt collar, shaking him with a furious look in her eye, while Gaara remained emotionless, standing still. "Gaara, do you know what you've done?! My father is going to kill me!" She shook him more, he remained still.

"That's why you're not going back."

"No, no you see you're wrong. I have to go back. They will find me, I promise you that!" Sakura's shaking continued, gripping his shirt tighter. Gaara lifted his hands, placing them over her cold ones, making Sakura freeze.

"Listen, I'll make a deal with you. Stay in our guest room until after Halloween, it's only two weeks. It will give him time to cool off." Sakura looked in his eyes, looking for some kind of hint as to say he was lying, or joking, but found nothing. Not exactly knowing why, she shifted her head down letting a muffled "fine" escape her lips. Sakura then lifted her head again, meeting his eyes once again.

"I don't want anyone knowing about this! No one is to know what you saw, or about my parents."

"Okay. But, we might have to tell Temari, seeing as you staying in our guest room for two weeks isn't a normal occurrence, and she won't think she magically forgot that she invited you." Sakura closed her eyes. No one had ever found out about her. The only time any one ever came close was when she showed up to school in the seventh grade with a swollen cheek and lip, but Sakura told the teacher she got in a fight with the kids at school and got away easily. Sakura wanted to be the one who her friends went to when troubled, not the other way around. She felt exposed, no longer able to hide her biggest flaw.

Sakura nodded, "Fine, Temari and you." Gaara, who was still holding her hands, gently released her grip from his shirt and lowered her hands, releasing them at her sides. "Why are you doing this?"

Gaara looked shocked, "What?"

"Why are you so insistent on protecting me? You haven't even known me for a week and you've already punched my dad." Sakura said the last part, trying to lighten the dreary mood.

"You're my friend, that's what friends do…I learned that a while ago from an old friend, and I've never forgotten it."

"Oh." Sakura looked down as if in deep thought but looked up almost instantly and smiled, embracing him into a hug, burying her face into his chest. Gaara was shocked as if not sure what to do, but soon returned the hug, resting his chin on her head. They stayed like for a few moments before Gaara's eyes suddenly widened and whispered to Sakura.

"Um, Sakura…I might have forgotten to mention something." Sakura moved away from his in confusion.

"What?" But before she could get an answer she saw eight figures standing on the lawn in front of them. Sakura smiled nervously before turning to glare at Gaara. "You forgot to mention we were standing in front of your house!" Sakura said in a hoarse whisper.

"It's not something I say every time I walk in front of it."

"Don't be a smart ass! They saw us hug, what am I to say to that?!"

"You could always tell them what happened."

"Hah, funny." _He's going to pay for this. _

One of the eight figures walked forward, revealing himself as Naruto. "Um, we heard voices, and then they were quiet and then we saw you hugging and…are you guys together?!" Sakura and Gaara looked at each other; Sakura was smirking while Gaara glared at her. _Payback. _Sakura turned back to Naruto, smiling wide.

"Yep!" Before Gaara could protest Sakura snapped her head back to Gaara letting out a harsh whisper, "They don't get to know, so it's this or I go back to my house tomorrow." Gaara glared at her, thinking of the statement, if looks could kill.

"You owe me." Gaara turned to the group to see they had moved in closer, revealing their forms, holding shocked expressions. Naruto was the first to break, smiling wildly.

"That's awesome! I mean, I never would have thought, but I guess I'm wrong. Nice going guys!" Gaara stood still, resisting the temptation of pounding his best friend into the ground.

Temari had walked up to Sakura smirking, "Hah, you treat my little brother well." Sakura smiled and nodded with a slight twitch in her eye. Kankuro came up with a smirk as he slung his arm around Gaara.

"Sakura, eh? I have to say little bro, I am proud." Gaara glared at Kankuro, shoving him off. Tenten came in cheerfully, hugging Sakura.

"You guys are so cute together!"

"Tenten…you're choking me." Sakura said smiling as she pulled away.

"Oops."

Kiba spoke up, "Um, this is a sweet moment and all but really, I'm freezing my balls off out here. Can we go inside?" Gaara not wanting to stand there any longer quickly responded,

"Yes." He quickly put his arm around Sakura's waist dragging her with him, as she let out a small squeak.

Once they were through the door, Gaara stopped and moved him and Sakura to the side of the door way. Once Temari came through the door he grabbed her arm making her yelp.

"We need to talk!" Gaara walked up the stairs dragging the two girls with him. Temari looked to Sakura for answers, but her head was down letting herself be pulled by Gaara. Kiba looked up to see the three moving upstairs.

"Oi! Where are you three going?"

Gaara yelled back, "We'll be down in a minute!" Kiba looked to the rest of the group, but was greeted with equally confused faces. Knowing it was best not to disturb Gaara when he was angry, they decided to head to the basement, leaving them be.

Gaara wrenched Temari's door open, ripping his arm away from Sakura, and started pacing back and forth. Sakura stood, staring at the ground as Temari came in after them, closing the door.

"Gaara, what the hell is going on!?" Gaara abruptly stopped and stared at Sakura.

"Tell her." Sakura didn't move, she continued staring at her feet, refusing to open her mouth. Gaara glared at her.

"Fine, I'll tell her." Gaara continued to glare at her for a few moments longer before letting out a sigh and turning to Temari and explain what happened at Sakura's house. Sakura kept her head down, avoiding the looks of pity from Temari. Once Gaara had finished he made his way to Temari's bed, to flop down, and stare at the ground.

"Sakura…" Sakura winced at the sound of her name. "Why didn't you say anything?" Sakura raised her head to see Temari looking at her with a gleam of anger in her eyes.

"I would have been fine; I don't need anyone's pity. This isn't the first time it's happened." Temari glared into the nothing beside Sakura.

"That sick bastard! Sakura, I will not let you go back there!"

Sakura felt an assortment of feelings build inside her, anger being the key. Gaara sighed and held his hand up to Sakura before she could explode.

"We've already discussed that. She'll be staying in our guest room for two weeks, until after Halloween. That way her father can calm down. I'm still not even sure he'll remember anything in the morning."

"Um, I'm completely for Sakura staying with us, but, won't your parent's notice?"

"Yes." Sakura knew she should say more-Anything really. It was her life, her situation they were discussing. But it wasn't something they were supposed to know, she couldn't keep it from them and she hated that. She hated feeling so exposed, so open for them to read, to configure. Sakura looked over to see Temari and Gaara deep in conversation, not listening to their words. She watched as their mouths moved, their heads occasionally made a nodding movement. They were so…_Serious. _Sakura mentally slapped her self for thinking that, knowing very well it was a serious time…she was just so used to it. She thought about trying to explain to them that it was normal and she'd be fine, but gave herself a slap for that thought as well. The cold was growing inside her; Sakura raised her hand to her chest as if to grip it. She wanted to feel more serious, more alive to the situation. All there was was the cold, destroying everything else.

"Sakura?" Sakura lifted her head up to see Temari standing in front of her.

Sakura smiled, "Yes?"

"We've decided how we can have you stay her for the two weeks. Well, it's simple really; we just create a fake fax stating you are on a school camping trip in the woods." In Sakura's head, it popped up with a million different doubts, different holes and flaws in the plan.

"Sounds good." Sakura wanted it to work. That thought ran through her mind, pushing through the cold, feeling a slight shift in her self. "I'm going to wash up." Sakura made for the door, but stopped and took of the hoodie she was wearing and walked over to Gaara. "Thanks for lending it to me…Sorry about the blood and alcohol, I'll make sure to wash it for you tomorrow."

Gaara took the clothing in his hand, "Don't worry about it." Sakura walked out of the room making her way to the bathroom, leaving the two siblings in Temari's room.

"Gaara, two weeks isn't enough. She can't go back there."

"I know."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll figure something out."

"You better." She watched as Gaara just sighed. "You two aren't really going out then huh?"

"You just figured that out?"

"Well, I did have something a tad more important on my mind."

"Well it was sort of a given."

Temari glared at him, deciding not to answer. "You might want to consider washing up as well. Dried up blood isn't the best thing to go walking around with on your hands." Temari walked out of the room and met up with Sakura, helping her down stairs to the basement as she was till in pain.

Gaara shifted, lifting himself off of the bed, and heading out of room switching off the light as he passed it. He reached the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He leaned over the white porcelain sink, and twisted the nozzle letting the cold water poor over his dry hands. Gaara watched as the pink liquid slid towards the drain, lost in thought.

(Flashback)

The small red haired boy looked down to see two hands shaking violently, covered in blood. _My hands? _His eyes widened in fear, in shock _What happened…_Gaara's thought trailed off when he looked beyond his hands to splashes of blood on the ground, his eyes followed it further to see a pile of bodies lying on the ground covered in blood. Gaara slowly started to back away, _I didn't…_He heard a noise to his right, he quickly shot his head over to three boys who were cowering in a corner, "What happened?" they didn't answer, they stood shaking against the wall. Gaara took a step towards them but stopped when they made a whimpering noise, shoving their hands in front of their bodies. _Those eyes…why do they fear me? _Gaara took several steps back. _I did this? _"No…no, NO!" The three boys boy's yelped at the volume Gaara's voice had risen to. Gaara gripped his hair, dropping to his knees as he tried to remember something, anything.

(End of flashback)

Gaara's hands were at his sides, clenched in fists, "Damnit!" He slammed both fist down on the sink before shutting off the water and stalking out of the bathroom.

When Gaara had gotten downstairs he noticed the lights were out, and nine people were sitting around on the couches, looking towards the TV screen. When he came into view of them, Temari spoke up instantly.

"Since Sakura isn't feeling too well Gaara, we decided to watch a movie; I made sure to save you a seat next to Sakura." Temari was smirking at him; he looked around to see everyone staring at him, apparently waiting for him to sit down. He looked back to Temari to give her a death glare before seating himself next to Sakura, who gave him an apologetic smile. Next to Gaara was Shikamaru, Temari took her seat next to Shikamaru, still smiling to herself. Naruto was sitting on a couch to the left of Gaara's. He lifted his hand, apparently holding the remote, waiting for Gaara to come and press play.

It was a horror torture movie; it went by the name of Hostel. Gaara was enjoying it, so far it had blood, boobs and more blood. About half way through he noticed Sakura had gotten an extreme amount closer to him, her hands were holding a pillow up to cover her face except for her eyes, he could tell she definitely did not like the movie. He smirked, "You know it's not that bad…it's just a movie." Sakura peeked out from behind her pillow to shoot Gaara a glare.

"It certainly looks real, which is enough. I hate these cruel torture movies." Gaara chuckled at her, but quickly turned back to the movie. A few more moments passed; it seamed that the knowledge that Sakura and Gaara had supposedly gotten together had sparked thoughts into everyone's minds. Tenten was sitting next to Neji, who's arm was around her, letting her burry her face in his chest every time something came up that scared her. He sat there contently, with a slight smile. Hinata was practically sitting behind Naruto burying her face in his back while he held her arms around his waste stroking her hands to calm her down from her heightened state of fear of the movie, and probably somewhat of the fact that Naruto was stroking her hand. Temari however was a different story. Shikamaru sat there looking bored with his arm around her waste as she enjoyed every minute of the movie. Even Kiba and Kankuro looked a little close sitting on the couch to the right of Gaara and Sakura, they sat both wide eyed staring at the screen, every few moments inching closer, both scared to death.

An image flashed in the screen of a guy's Achilles tendon being cut, Sakura snapped she quickly threw her pillow at the screen, shoving her face into Gaara's shoulder. The group stared at her in shock; Temari looked over and smirked at the picture. Gaara sat wide eyed staring at the pink haired girl as she buried her face into his shoulder gripping his arm. "Nice one Sakura." Sakura slowly looked up from Gaara's shoulder to see Temari smirking at her. Sakura looked up at Gaara, and turned a deep shade of red, hiding it in his shoulder once again.

"It scared me…"

"We noticed. Try not to kill our TV next time, eh?" Temari was still smirking at Sakura as she turned an even deeper red.

"Yeah…sorry about that." Sakura gave a nervous laugh, and turned to look back at the screen, still keeping her grasp on Gaara's arm who said nothing.

Through out the movie Sakura managed to cause Gaara loss of feeling in his right arm, and throw an additional two more pillows at the screen. By the time it was over, Sakura felt a rush of relief wash over her, and let loose her grip on Gaara's arm who swung it back and forth, feeling that numb cold tingling sensation rush through it.

Temari stretched her arms, giving a satisfactory smile, "So, it's just about eleven o'clock, time for you guys to get going."

Naruto made a sour face, "But, it's ONLY eleven…" Hinata moved out from behind him, retracting her arms from around his waist.

"No, she's right, you guys should get going."

"Fine." Naruto stood to face the other guys who still lay lazily on the couches. "Come on, we should uh, get going to my house…yeah." Neji shot up, pulling his hands to his chest in front of him.

"S-see you girls l-later." Neji ran out of the room and up the stairs, knowing if he stayed any longer he would ruin their plans. Gaara rolled his eyes, watching him run out of the room. He sat up lazily, slowly rising, stretching his arms out.

"Bye." He made for the door but noticed his friends all glaring at him, shifting their eyes from him to Sakura. He sighed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes he walked back to Sakura who apparently was oblivious to the situation, and planted a kiss on her forehead. Sakura froze as a small pink rose to her cheeks. Gaara smirked as he walked away, hands shoved in his pockets. Sakura looked as he walked away smirking, making her silently curse herself for letting him get to her like that.

Temari looked to her left to see Shikamaru sitting on the couch, staring off into to space. "Get up you lazy ass!" Temari grabbed his hand, yanking him up from his seat.

"Gee, thanks." Shikamaru glared at her, but instantly changed when she gave him a kiss on the cheek, and ushered him out of the room, to the stairs. She walked back in to see Naruto had already gotten Kiba and Kankuro up and was walking out with them, each one unusually quiet.

Naruto gave a wave, "See you later." Temari watched from the bottom of the stairs as each boy made their way up and out the door. She turned around and sighed, giving a big smile.

"Finally."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kankuro walked out of the door into the cold night, shutting it behind him, smiling at the group of guys.

"Finally, let's get the stuff ready."

**Tada! I really hope you liked it! Please R&R, flamers welcome! The next chapter shall be out soon. **


	6. Operation Ramen

**Chapter 6!**

**I'm so so so sorry this is so late. Ah, so late, and the thoughts were all flowy and I wanted to write them here but let's just say my computer was smashed. Yeah…Blame it on the smasher! And the library is only good for an hour. Anyways, it's here now right? **

**ALSO! My friend and I are having a debate, is Ka(o)nkuro's name spelt like Kankuro or Konkuro? I think it's the first, and so does my story, anyways, how is it?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

_Thoughts_

_**Inner Thoughts**_

**Chapter 6: Operation Ramen**

"Proceed."

Kankuro shot his head back from around the corner of the hallway, positioning his hands in a James Bond gun pose. He leapt to the opposite side of the hallway which opened up into another dimlit hallway.

"Right!"

Naruto and Kiba followed after, holding their hands in the same position. Kiba shot after Kankuro and stood behind him while Naruto jumped up and rolled across the hallway. Gaara glared at the three and shoved his hands in his pockets and walked calmly across the hall.

"Idiots."

Neji followed with a similar composure to Gaara's, while Shikamaru yawned and walked slowly behind them, staring at the off-white hallway walls. They followed Kankuro down the hall which had several doors on either side. They reached the end of the hall when Kankuro turned left towards a wooden door and smiled proudly at it. When Gaara had gotten there with the rest of the group his eyes shot wide.

"Kankuro don't tell me you…This is…You fucktard!" Naruto looked quizzically at the door then to Gaara.

"Um, what's wrong?" Gaara crossed his arms and glared at Kankuro who continued to smile.

"It's the only way we can hear them bro." Neji who was getting annoyed stepped in.

"What's going on?"

"Ask Kankuro what the great the plan is." Neji looked at Kankuro who raised his hand.

"I know, I'll tell you…So, behind this door gentlemen happens to be a room, and inside the room there happens to be a state of the art laundry chute!" Kankuro smiled and clapped his hands but was greeted in silence.

"Uh…so?"

"So, Shikamaru, this particular laundry chute happens to run strait through to the basement. The very same basement the girls are staying. Now, Naruto please place your ear against the door."

"Huh?"

"Just do it."

"…Okay" Naruto walked up and cautiously placed his ear against the door. His eyes went wide, "I-it's the girl's voices! I can hear them talking!"

"Exactly." Naruto removed his head from the door and looked at Gaara. "What's so bad about that?" Gaara stayed quiet and walked over to the door and swung it open. The other guys peeked in and then turned to glare at Kankuro.

"It's not that bad!" Neji took a threatening step closer.

"Yeah, if you exclude the fact that there's room for maybe three of us!"

"Not if we squish!"

"Told you he's a fucktard."

"Am not!" Neji glared at Kankuro, clenching his fist.

"And five years old." Kankuro gave an exaggerated sigh.

"Fine, we won't listen to the girl's; we'll just go to Naruto's and wonder what they're thinking…I can hardly wait." The group glared at him before letting out a few muffled 'fine'. Kankuro smirked and held the door open as they each piled in the small closet. "Remember, the laundry chute goes both ways, so be quiet no matter what."

(Girls)

Sakura lay stretched out on the couch with her hands behind her head, staring into the light bulb up on the ceiling. She was waiting for the other girls to finish changing into their bed clothes. She had finished early and came back to the couches. Her thoughts were jumbled through out her head, replaying the events of the night, feeling as though she might be dreaming, like it wasn't real. She felt pain in her body, she was alive. It was a moment when she suddenly felt awake, not necessarily to reality, but something gentler. Sakura looked into the light, it looked like a star when she squinted, and it was comforting. She squinted her eyes and smiled, she opened her eyes, but it went dark.

"Huh, Tenten? Oh!" Sakura's heart jumped, and she went a long with it, hitting her head against Tenten's.

"Owy, owy, owy!" The two girls yelled in unison. Sakura and Tenten both held their heads, squeezing their eyes shut. Sakura peeked out one eye.

"Sorry about that…you just surprised me."

"Heh, I noticed." The two girls heard a noise towards their left; they both looked over to see Temari on the ground laughing. Hinata was standing beside her with a worried look, staring over at them. Tenten smiled at Hinata.

"We're fine. And thanks Temari for the concern!" Temari looked up, choking on her laughter.

"No problem!" When Temari calmed down, Hinata helped her up and together walked over to the couch where Tenten and Sakura were seated, still rubbing their foreheads.

Temari sat down next to Sakura, "So, what shall we do to begin this party in honor of Sakura?" The three girls looked at Sakura, who scooted back from their stares.

"Um, since it's my night I say that…Tenten has to choose!" Sakura gave an evil chuckle while pointing at Sakura. Tenten glared at Sakura until she stopped laughing and retreated to an innocent smile.

"Well, I'm pretty sure when it's a sleep over it's customary for us to eat ice cream out of the cartons and drink soda and eat popcorn while playing truth or dare. Does this sound good?" The girls stared at her before Temari spoke up.

"You've been surfing the internet again haven't you?"

"Maybe…" Tenten smiled innocently at the girls. Sakura clapped her on the back.

"I like that idea, now, what's truth or dare?" The girls stared at Sakura dumbfounded. Hinata scooted close to Sakura and stared her in the eyes.

"You mean, you've never heard of it?" Sakura's face had a nervous look as she shifted her eyes to all her friends.

"Well, I heard about at my schools but, um, I've never really played. Oh! And I heard it earlier today. And hey I thought it was a stupid game the way you told the guys we weren't going to play it." Sakura furrowed her eye brows and pointed an accusing finger at Tenten.

Tenten smiled, "Oh, well it is dumb when you're with your guy friends, but if it's just us girls, it's nice." Sakura's face resembled a smile child as she smiled.

"Oh, okay!" Temari rolled her eyes and smiled.

"So uh, Sakura you can come with me to get the snacks and I'll explain on the way." She stood up a long with Sakura and walked out of the room towards the stairs.

They made their way up the dark hallway, with the soft carpet under their feet easing the sounds of their steps. Temari got out in front of Sakura so that she could lead the way towards the kitchen. Temari and Sakura reached the last step, and Temari took a left, leading away from the front door. She made her way throughout the dark house, letting Sakura look around to see the different hallways, and doorways, realizing how big it actually was. Temari took another left when ended immediately at an opening. She flipped a switch which revealed a large kitchen, with marble stone countertops. The fridge was a two door steel fridge, and the cabinets surrounding them were a light wood. Temari walked slowly in the kitchen before stopping at a countertop which was in the center of the kitchen, she turned towards Sakura with a serious look.

"Truth or Dare is a game where if you get picked they ask you truth or dare, if you say truth, they ask you any question you want and you have to answer truthfully. If you get a dare they will dare you to do something, anything and you are obliged to do it." Temari bit her bottom lip with concern in her eyes, "This may be a problem seeing as they will want to get all the information on yours and Gaara's so called relationship. Now you should know something, and that is Gaara has only had one other girl friend, her name was Karin and that is a long, not so good story. They will want to know everything and you're going to have to lie your ass off."

"I'll be fine, I've lied about a lot of things in my past, this won't be any trouble…Hey, it might even be fun, so don't worry." Sakura smiled trying to make Temari feel better. She hated it when people were worried or sad on her account. Temari looked at her eyes for a moment longer as if to check to see if she lying but then smiled.

"Great, now, let's get the snacks before they start to get anxious."

"Okay." The girls stormed through the kitchen, gathering, clanking and giggling. In the end they managed to have three ice cream containers, one bag of pretzels, two bags of popcorn, a box of chocolate chip cookies, a small cooler full of coke, and four spoons. They're arms were full as they made their way through the house and down the stairs. Temari led the way while yelling to Hinata and Tenten.

"Okay, we've got the food and the junk and the drinks and we are good to go!" Hinata and Tenten ran over to help take some of the stuff from their hands and brought it over to the round table in between the couches. The girls sat around the round table in the order of Hinata, Temari, Tenten, and Sakura. They clapped their hands in unison and then dug into the snacks, grabbing random cartons of ice cream, cookies and drink. When they had finally gotten situated the table was a complete mess with their snack choices set out in front of them, each with content smiles. Temari swallowed the cookie she was eating and dusted her hands off and held them up to silence the other girls. This of course didn't work.

"Hey! It's time to start the game, c'mon!" She waited a few moments longer until the other girls were looking at her. "Now, who wants to go first, excluding Sakura since she just now learned the rules of the game?" Tenten raised her hand excitedly.

"I shall take the honors!" She smiled and sat up strait, "Now, who shall I torture…Ah, Hinata!" Hinata gave a small squeal, "Hinata, truth or dare?"

"Dare…" Tenten had a deviant smile.

"Excellent…Hinata, I dare you to tell Naruto how you feel before midnight on Halloween." Hinata turned a deep shade of red, averting her eyes from the rest of the group who were laughing.

"I…I accept." Tenten giggled, Sakura looked at Hinata as she laughed and smiled with the rest of the group. She found Hinata to be a refreshing person; she was shy, but brave. Tenten looked at Hinata.

"Your turn to torture!" Hinata lit up a little, the red fading from her face. She looked around a few times, finally stopping at Sakura.

"May I?" This made Sakura giggle. _What's with me? I never giggle; it's weird, this night-I like it._

"You may."

"Truth or Dare?"

"I think I like the truth one better."

"Okay, um, when did you and Gaara start to like each other?" Sakura looked over at Temari who was giving her an 'I told you so' look. Sakura's cheeks flushed a small amount as she thought about what to say. Her thoughts were coming in jumbled, she was trying to think but something kept interrupting her usually clear mind.

"Well, you see…We just…It was…Really it was spur of the moment, both liking each other thing. I mean, tonight is our first night together so really I'm still getting used to it." Sakura let go of the breath she was holding, she looked over at Temari who had one eye brow raised. Sakura looked at her apologetically, slightly shrugging her shoulders.

"That sounds very lovely." Hinata smiled serenely at Sakura. Tenten looked at Sakura and Temari with a curious expression.

"Yeah…" She looked at Sakura a moment longer, before Temari broke the silence.

"Okay! So it's Sakura's turn, let's see how good she is."

"Thanks." Sakura's gaze remained on Temari, "Well, I think I'll ask Temari." Sakura's smile went evil. "What the hell was going on with you and Shikamaru outside?"

"Ha-ha." Temari's cheeks went a slight pink, "Honestly it was nothing. I was just using my feminine charm to get what I want." Temari smirked at this last part. Tenten who looked at Temari as though she was story teller spoke up.

"Which was?"

"I just wanted to know why he smoked all the time, so I asked to try it…He said no and I thought yes. Simple." The three girls looked around at each other exchanging looks before simultaneously rolling their eyes and laughing, tossing a few popcorn kernels at her.

"Hey, hey, okay. I do believe it's my turn to turn the subject away from me and to someone else, such as Tenten!"

"Hah, bring it on." Temari smirked, thinking in her mind of the regrets Tenten will face.

"So Tenten, about Neji, I-"Right then there was a loud screaming heard from outside, the four girls shot up. "What is that?!" Before anyone could answer they heard them get louder. Sakura started for the stars with the rest of the group following after.

"We better find out." The four girls raced up the stairs, as the yelling from outside became louder, echoing throughout the house. Sakura wrenched open the door and didn't make it but a few feet outside before stopping frozen in her tracks. The three girls, who were following stopped as well, all with shocked expressions at the sight before them.

(Boys)

The boys stood pressed against each other in a dark room, their heat cascaded off their bodies filling the small space to an unpleasant extent. They stood still, each one careful not to make a sound. Gaara stood closest to the opening in the wall which was known as the laundry chute, his head was practically being shoved through the hole, in danger of becoming stuck. Naruto and Kankuro were pressing against him with their heads on either side of his, both pressing towards the hole, making Gaara's situation not much better. Shikamaru, Kiba and Neji were pressed against the wall in the back of the group of friends, each one avoiding putting their heads down towards the three backsides of their friends pressing against their crotches. They waited patiently for words to fill the room once again.

"_Okay, we've got the food and the junk and the drinks and we are good to go!" _Their ears perked as the sound of Temari's voice, they listened closely, hearing the girls rustle through things accompanied by a few giggles. _"Hey! It's time to start the game, c'mon!" _There was a pause and she spoke again, _"Now, who wants to go first, excluding Sakura since she just now learned the rules of the game?" _Each boy listened in anticipation, each one hoping for a different individual to startfinally hearing Tenten speak boldly_ "I shall take the honors! Now, who shall I torture…Ah, Hinata!"_ There was another pause, _"Hinata, truth or dare?" _They listened closely and heard in a small voice someone say _"Dare." _There was a shift among the guys as they smiled, wondering what kind of things girl's considered 'Dares'. _"Excellent…Hinata, I dare you to tell Naruto how you feel before midnight on Halloween." _Naruto's eyes shot wide, turning a light shade of pink.

"Sh-She likes me?" He looked towards the other guys for answer's but was answered in glares. Kankuro gave a quiet laugh and moved in closer to Naruto.

"You're…clueless." Naruto gave a confused look, and looked towards Kiba who patted him on the back.

"Naruto you're-" Kiba sniffed into the air, "-Hey do you guys smell smoke?" He shot his head to his left and glared at Shikamaru who stood frozen with a cigarette in his mouth, smiling innocently. Neji reach over Kiba and smacked Shikamaru in the back of the head making the cigarette fly out of his mouth, landing on Gaara's shirt.

"Idiot, they're going to smell that and know-"Gaara let out a hushed yelp, smacking his back repeatedly. Neji looked down to see the cigarette had burnt a hole through Gaara's shirt and touched his skin, making him jump and slap his back. Gaara turned his head to glare at Shikamaru who pointed a finger at Neji. "It was an accident…" Gaara turned back around, shutting his eyes and clenching his fists, resisting the urge to slap both of them. Kankuro tuned around and smiled happily at the two.

"Nice job." He gave them both a thumb's up. "You really-" Naruto hit His chest.

"Shh, we're missing their conversation!"

The group shut up instantly, having forgotten about the girls momentarily. _"When did you and Gaara start to like each other?" _Gaara gave a nervous gulp, listening to the long pause she gave before answering. _"Well, you see…We just…It was…Really it was spur of the moment, both liking each other thing. I mean, tonight is our first night together so really I'm still getting used to it." _The guys looked at Gaara silently laughing. Gaara himself was relieved she was able to come up with something at least semi-believable. Now that it was so quiet he started to think about how he found himself in this situation with Sakura…it confused him, making him feel indifferent and not certain about anything anymore. He couldn't figure out what was going to happen tomorrow, or in the next ten minutes, when usually he was so confident in his life and the way he lived. He felt unsure about things, he felt worried for Sakura, and hate towards her father. These things were so meaningless but still, he couldn't stop running them through his mind, continuously poking at him bringing up new concerns each time. Temari's voice broke through his thoughts, making him and Kankuro turn to glare at Shikamaru who avoided eye contact by looking at his finger nails with deep fascination. He tuned back around, and continued listening to the girls, scowling about how he had another thing to worry about.

"_So Tenten, about Neji, I-" _The boys didn't hear anymore, but heard screaming coming from outside of the house. They looked around at each other, hoping that one of them knew what was going on. They heard the girls foot steps running up the stairs towards the front part of the house. They heard the screaming get louder, making out some of the words that came out of the person's mouth. Gaara's eyes went wide.

"You guys, does that sound like…" Neji looked off into space trying to hear the words and replied quietly to Gaara.

"Yeah, it's her." Kiba looked between the two with a confused expression, but it was gone when he heard the screaming become clearer.

"Should we go?" Gaara pushed his way through the group, going for the door when Kankuro put a hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, if we go we should hide unless things get out of control…it won't be worth it to just show up and blow everything."

"Yeah, okay." They quietly made their way out of the closet, trying not to fall or make any big noises. They followed Gaara through the silent dark house, occasionally hearing yell's echoing through the house. They reached the back of the house, escaping through the back door. Gaara waited for them to get outside before shutting the door and locking it. He waved his hand, motioning for them to follow him. He crept slowly, pressed against the house around towards the side of the house. They followed the side of the house until Gaara came to a holt, peeking around the edge of the house to see the sight where the screams had been coming from. The other guys followed his example, each one careful not to make a sound.

(Girls)

Sakura stood watching as a drunken Ino attempted to walk down the street, yelling out drunken slurs. She came underneath the streetlamp, and looked towards to group of girls who were watching her. "Whad-fuck-yah-starn-at?" The girls looked at each other, while Sakura started towards Ino, looking curiously at her. The other girls hesitated before following her, all keeping a sour look towards their intoxicated enemy. Sakura narrowed her eyes, trying to look at Ino; she could have sworn she saw a red gleam in the street light. Ino attempted to walk towards Sakura but tripped, and instead sat on the side walk, watching Sakura approach her.

"Ino, why is your lip bleeding?"

"Fuckh-jyou."

"Yeah, no thanks. So, why are you getting drunk alone?"

"I wazn't shit-head"

"I wouldn't be so rude. You are a lone, and we are four together. Not to mention you can barely stand up." Ino huffed out her chest and went to protest but stopped herself, knowing Sakura was right. "Now, why don't you tell me who made your lip bleed like that?" Ino didn't say anything, just glared at Sakura and the others. "I thought so." Temari came up beside Sakura.

"Sakura, what are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's Sasuke." Temari looked back at Ino to see her swollen lip, dry blood trailing down her chin.

"Hate to say this but not even you should put up with that Ino." Ino continued her emotionless glare, while swaying a bit from the alcohol.

"Sasuke lubs meh." Sakura rolled her eyes. Tenten and Hinata had come up besides Sakura and Temari, both examining Ino with curious expressions. Tenten spoke up with a sarcastic remark.

"I can see that." Sakura snapped around towards Tenten with hate and compassion in her eyes.

"It's not that easy." Tenten was taken back, wondering what had just happened. Before she could say anything, bright car lights shown on the group of girls. They came closer, revealing the form of each girl, as they shielded their eyes. Ino smirked and slowly and wobbly got up. The girls watched her as she walked towards the car. When the car came beside them they were able to see Sasuke driving the car, with a few of his friends in the car. He stuck his head out of the window.

"Bitch, get in the car!" She turned towards the group of girls and smirked.

"Told you." She slowly swayed towards the car, getting into the front seat, and slamming the car door behind her. Sasuke smiled towards the group and pointed towards Sakura.

"Pretty soon, it'll be you!" The car sped off in the dark street, making screeching sounds as it made a turn. Sakura dropped to her knees, and grabbed her hair.

"FUCK!" Sakura's scream seemed to echo throughout the world. She clenched her hair as if it were her support, she put her head in towards her knees, letting go of her hair and encircling her knees, hugging them with all her strength as she breathed in and out against the cold cement feeling the cold grip at her heart. Her friends stood around her frozen, Temari dropped besides Sakura. Sakura eyes went wide when she felt someone bringing her towards them. She looked up at Temari, and sprung in her arms, burying her face in her shoulder, feeling the warmth of another person. She had someone who knew, someone who cared. Tenten and Hinata dropped down and came beside her, rubbing her back, she sat up and smiled at the two. Even though they had no idea what was going on they still cared for her. They didn't ask questions they just tried to comfort her.

"Sorry…I just…" Tenten just shook her head no.

"It's okay, just as long as you'll be okay." Sakura smiled and nodded her head.

"I think I will." She smiled at Temari who beamed at her. Sakura slowly made her way up, and walked towards the house, while the four girls locked arms, each one feeling as if something was accomplished yet, not really knowing what.

When the girls had gotten inside they decided they would take things easy and start a movie. Tenten had managed to talk Temari out of a horror movie and instead they watched the movie Saved. Each girl took their own couch, Sakura taking the one farthest away from the TV, in the middle of all the couches. About half-way through the movie Sakura could feel her eyes getting heavy, and decided not to fight it. While Sakura was asleep, her mind was still at work, having a vivid but familiar dream.

Sakura was walking towards her friends who were waiting for her in the clearing behind the bush where they normally ate lunch. She smiled and waved to them as she walked. She felt the ground crumble beneath her and whispered "No…" She started to fall into darkness; she remained silent but heard screaming anyways. She looked beside her to see Ino falling beside her, "Ino?" Ino stopped screaming and looked towards Sakura and smirked, and whispered, "Too late." Sakura screamed and looked up towards her friends, they smiled not noticing anything, until she saw Gaara and Temari break from the crowd and started to reach out towards her. She smiled and then looked down to see a rocky ravine getting closer by the second. She watched as Ino fell faster than her, she hit the bottom but when she hit it she disappeared like a splash of water. She looked back up to see Gaara and Temari, they were yelling something but she couldn't hear them. She looked back towards the bottom, feeling it getting closer and closer to her.

"Sakura…Sakura!" Sakura slowly opened her eyes to see Temari shaking her shoulder lightly. "Sakura, we heard something upstairs." Sakura looked around to see Hinata and Tenten also huddling by the couch with scared expressions.

**Voila! Please read and review, tell me if you liked it or not. I hope you did like it, even though it took so long for it to come out. ******** I think I'm forgetting to say something…oh, well. OH! Haha, when I say Karin, I mean the Karin in the Shippuuden episodes. Hehe, you just might see more of her. **


	7. Authors Note:

Okay, first off I'd like to say I'm very sorry for putting an authors note in place of a chapter. I HATE when people do this when I'm expecting a new chapter, it just gets my hopes up and then-BAM! Die hopes. Yeah, anyways, I just wanted to let you all know that I won't be able to update as soon as I wanted to. I'm going on an unexpected trip so if my plane crashes you shall just have to continue the story in your minds, or uh, write one if you want. Not really though. I just hate flying. You know the part when you're thousands of feet in the air and then suddenly you come to this huge realization that you're thousands of feet in the air flying in a metal death trap? That thought will haunt me and make me realize it about 50 times through out the flight. I wish I was a little kid, then I could have a flight attendant smile at me and give me juice.

Always, Amixed.


	8. Final Words of Friday

**Chapter 7**

**Yeah, it's a new record for how late a chapter is. Thank you for being patient. **

**Special Thanks: **

**KimiChan – My wonderful, amazing Beta Reader! Check out her stuff on her penname is Kimi-Kaguya.**

**FFREYAA – Thank you for answering my question about the correct spelling of Kankuro's name. Cheers**

**To those who gave me good thoughts on flying, believe or not I actually took them to heart and used the advice. I'm alive, wooh! **

**And to anyone who rates/favorites/reviews/ or finds this story read-able. **

**Chapter 7: Final Words of Friday**

Sakura sat up, unfazed by what Temari said.

"What are you talking about?"

"A noise…Upstairs." Sakura rubbed her eyes, processing the words through her brain.

"What kind of noise?"

"It sounded like-" The girls froze as they heard a loud thump coming from upstairs.

Sakura immediately forgot about her sleepiness as her heart jumped at the sound. Temari

gulped, "Like that."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The air was still, beating against their ears, as they strained to hear any sign of intrusion. Darkness consumed the hallway, making it seem as if they were walking into an infinite abyss. Temari led the way, hands stretched out in front of her as to not run into anything, walking on memory. Sakura was right behind her, clinging onto her shirt as her heart rapidly beat. Tenten and Hinata followed after, taking Sakura's example and holding onto the backs of their shirts. The only noise was from their own footsteps as they hit the cold hard wood floor. Sakura leaned up against Temari's back.

"Temari, where are we?" Temari didn't speak but waited for a few moments to pass by.

"We're on the third floor; the only place left to go is the attic." Sakura didn't like the way

Temari had said that, making her wonder if they really were closing in on an intruder.

Sakura looked back into darkness where Tenten's face would be, wondering if they were as scared as her. Sakura couldn't figure it out, but she felt spooked the whole night, putting her nerves on end.

Sakura ran into Temari's back, leading a domino affect for Tenten and Hinata who squeaked.

"What's wrong?" Sakura stared into the back of Temari's head, waiting for her reply; each moment passing her heart sped up. "Temari?"

"Shh!" Temari snapped at Sakura who obeyed right away, tightening her grip on the back of her shirt. They stood there, waiting in darkness, each one soaked in the others fear.

Sakura felt her grip of Temari's shirt being twisted and realized that Temari was now facing her. Temari came up beside Sakura and pulled all three girls into a circle.

"I heard the closet door at the end of the hallway shut" Hinata gave a small gasp, as Sakura grabbed her arm and hugged her, and began to speak.

"What should we do?"

"Well I was just thinking we could open it." Tenten went in and shoved Temari's arm.

"What if it's a burglar?!"

"No one takes shit from my house." Sakura looked towards Temari with a glare, hoping that she'd some how sense it.

"Temari, now isn't the time for stubbornness"

"Look guys, we can take care of our selves. Okay, we're standing by my room; I have a few things we can hit them with." Sakura and Tenten snorted and laughed at this. Sakura stopped when she realized Hinata left her side.

"Where's Hinata?" Before anyone could answer they heard her close Temari's door.

"Here, I went and got the weapons." Temari and the girls laughed.

"Nice going Hinata. Hey, who ever has my steel bat better hand it over."

"Damn" Sakura handed over her bat in defeat, while Temari traded her for a wooden one.

"I took your golf club if that's okay Temari."

"Fuck if I care." Temari was examining her own bat, smirking as she flicked a finger against it, making a small 'ting' noise.

"How is it that I get stuck with a drum stick?"

"Sorry Tenten, I was sort of in a hurry."

"No problem, I'll just poke 'em in the ass or something."

They girls resumed their positions and walked towards the door, each one tightening their grip around the objects in which they entrusted their protection to. They made no noise, walking like skilled ninja's. They reached to a halt as Temari encircled her hand around the door knob. Each girl held their breath as Temari twisted the knob. Time seemed to slow down; each one could have written a book with the many thoughts flowing through their minds. Then, Temari went for the plunge; she flew the door open, and flipped on the switch, each girl ran into the closet screaming, flinging their weapons into the air. They stopped when they realized it was empty, as three girls went to glare at Temari. Sakura spoke up.

"Man, I'm sure glad we had these weapons, I almost didn't survive."

"Fuck...Guys I swear I heard this door close." Temari said, rubbing the back of her head. Hinata stood there, shaking with the golf club in her hand.

"At least there isn't anyone here, and we're all safe."

"I didn't even get to use the drum stick of doom!"

"Yeah well, let's just go back downstairs so I can go back to sleep." Sakura headed for the door when suddenly the lights went out and the door slammed shut. The girls screamed and then went quiet when they heard feet shuffling by the door. All four girls pushed against the door, feeling the anxiety of the situation. They heard a familiar voice whisper.

_"Shit, hurry up!" _

"Fucking Hell, was that my brother?" Sakura thought for a moment and lit up with surprise.

"Why is Kankuro here?" Temari glared holes through the door, as she slammed her fist against the wood.

"Temari, they've gone too far." Tenten said as she pushed against the door.

"Yeah, they're dead." Sakura put the pieces of the situation together and began to push even harder against the door. All at once the door flew open and the girls fell out onto the floor. Temari was the first to spring up, and started to run after the group of guys when

Sakura yelled out to her.

"WAIT!" Temari froze, infuriated.

"What!?" Sakura slowly walked up to Temari who still stood with her back against the girls as if she was going to break off running again. Sakura reached Temari and placed a hand on her shoulder gently, as if not to set anything off.

"I have an idea." Temari sighed and turned around, looking at Sakura with curious eyes. Sakura smiled and grabbed her hand, bringing her back over to Hinata and Tenten.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I have to piss."

"Kiba, I swear, if you say that one more time I'm going to kill you."

"Yeah, at least I wouldn't have to piss anymore."

"Gaara, just let him go, he's being annoying."

"...Fine. If you make one sound, you'll regret it. And I won't be the one to make you regret it. The girls will."

"Sweet! Excuse me boys, I get to go release myself!" Kiba squeezed through the guys, and pressed against the door, slowly turning the door knob, as to not make any noise.

As soon as he closed the door behind him, the room spread out a little more, each boy trying to get to the cool air that was released through the door when it opened.

"Fuck it's hot in here. And they haven't said anything for the past thirty minutes!" Gaara threw his arm back at Kankuro.

"They will if you don't keep your voice down." Naruto, who had been quiet until then, spoke up in a small voice, very different from his usual.

"Hey you guys, don't you think it was weird the way Sakura reacted to what happened earlier." Kankuro and Neji nodded their heads; Shikamaru just stared at him, while Gaara immediately snapped.

"No, why?"

"It was just..." Naruto looked up at Gaara to see him in an unusual composure, "Nothing."

Naruto stood quiet, letting the rest of the group bicker, with the exception of Gaara who looked at Naruto, knowing that he knew something was off.

The door opened, revealing a smiling Kiba.

"Man, I feel great, and I didn't even make a sound" He scooted in closer to the guys, getting in his position to listen for the girls.

"Kiba, close the door!"

"Oh, right!" Before Gaara could stop him, Kiba carelessly pulled the door to, making a loud thump. Kiba winced at the noise, shutting his eyes, knowing what was about to come. Gaara stayed silent, he very much wanted to pound Kiba in, but instead listened for sounds of the girls moving. Naruto was silently turning purple, holding in his yell to Kiba, and instead glaring at him. After a few moments they guys sighed, as Kankuro leaned over to Kiba.

"You are one lucky Bastard, Kiba." Gaara went in to say something when they heard a voice, _"What kind of noise?"_ Gaara looked over at Kiba and slammed his fist into his shoulder. Kiba fell back against the door, making a louder noise than before. Kiba stood, rubbing his shoulder.

"That one was your fault, and bad karma." Gaara made a move towards Kiba, but Neji and Naruto held him back.

"Gaara, right now we need to focus on getting the fuck out of your house." Neji had a stern voice which broke through Gaara's anger.

"Yeah, you're right." Shikamaru, who was leaning against the wall, pushed himself off.

"Might I suggest we start moving?"

Gaara pushed past Kiba and slowly opened the door, looking around the corner into the darkness. Right when he was about to walk out he heard Sakura's voice and froze. _Shit_ He held his hand back to the other guys; apparently they had heard the voice too. Gaara stood still, thinking of a way to get out of this mess. He quietly turned around and whispered to the group of guys.

"Slowly make your way out of the room and press up against the wall at the back of this hallway, outside of the door to your left."

Gaara didn't wait for the group to confirm what they heard; he slowly crept out into the dark hallway, hearing the foot steps of the girls getting closer and closer. He pressed himself against the cold wall, feeling the rest of the guy's line up next to him. Each one had thoughts of dread filling their minds as the girls got closer. They heard a clink of metal, making Gaara and Kankuro mentally slap themselves, knowing fully well of what and who just made that noise. They really did have a scary sister. The hallway suddenly grew warmer, feeling the presence of the girls. They heard their whispers, and their anxious thoughts. Gaara felt someone's hair brush past him and knew it was almost time. Then, it happened, the girls threw the door open and ran inside, turning on the closet light and screaming, waving objects frantically in the air. Gaara hit Kankuro's shoulder, motioning him to shut the door. Before a second thought could flash through his mind, Kankuro ran at the door, slamming it shut. Kiba ran up and held it closed while the guys ran past, running for their lives.

Gaara was too far ahead, he heard Kankuro yell something but it left his attention as he made his way down the two sets of stairs and out the door. He was followed directly by Naruto, then Neji and finally Shikamaru. They ran down the block, not stopping for air until they took a turn and stopped when they realized that Kankuro and Kiba still hadn't made it.

"Oh man, I hope they didn't get caught." Naruto said, walking back to look around the corner of the block. "Oh...never mind, here they come. Who knew they could run so fast." Kankuro and Kiba ran up to the group, out of breath. Each guy took their time to breathe in and out before looking at one another and bursting into laughter. Kankuro looked up at the group, breathing in deep and letting out a sigh.

"That was close."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The girls sat around Temari's bed, smiling, and laughing with devious grins. Tenten was sitting on the right sight of Sakura, she clapped her back.

"Man, Sakura, your mind works in wondrous ways!"

"I do try" She sang sarcastically, "Man; Halloween night is going to be amazing."

**Authors Note: Yes, it's incredibly short, but I thought I should end the Friday night here and now and let it have its own chapter. Read, review and smile? **


	9. Authors Note Two:

Hello! I want to thank all the readers who still find this story worth the read. Guess what? More chapters are coming soon! I know, finally. Another person is being added to my crew, her name is MayuneSpirit and she is going to help edit. We want to completely revise the story so that it fits Shippuuden criteria. It really won't take that long, so please have patience with us. We have some great idea's for the new chapters as well.


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